THE HUNGER GAMES - PRIM EDITION
by ThePhanWhoLived
Summary: It's the 74th year of the Hunger Games. What would happen to Primrose Everdeen if volunteers were forbidden?
1. Chapter 1 - The Reaping

**CHAPTER 1**

I wake to hear the front door slam. I turn over to find my sister, Katniss, has gone. I rush to the window to see her, hunting bag over shoulder, walking boldly toward the meadow. She has left a note by the bed – 'Prim, I've gone out hunting. Will be back in an hour. Don't forget I love you, little duck X'.

Every morning, no matter what the weather is doing, she climbs through the broken electric fence that stretches around the diameter of District 12. Beyond the fence is the forest, where she will hunt to keep the family going.

Our family only consists of three people, me, Katniss, and our mother. My father died in a coal mine accident years ago. I was only 7. I remember the day well; the warning sirens went off, as they always do when there has been an accident at the mines, while we were at school, and I waited for Katniss in my classroom. When she came for me, we rushed home fast.

We waited through the night, each time we heard the creaky lift ascending a tiny piece of hope would rise in our hearts, only to descend, along with the lift, when each man had been collected by an overjoyed family. By morning, all hope was gone, and so was our father.

I remember the feeling of a stone being dropped in the bottom of my heart when we saw the surname 'EVERDEEN' on the notice board.

After our father's death, I faintly remember watching our mother fall into a wormhole of depression. I am thankful that Katniss inherited our father's hunting skills, which enabled her to keep her, our mother and me alive, because our mother did nothing. I forgave her after a while, when she started getting better again, but I can tell that Katniss hasn't yet.

Once, Katniss took me hunting with her, but I was hopeless. It has been clear since a young age that I was a lover of all animals, so when Katniss shot the deer, I broke down in tears. I wanted to help the dying animal. I wanted to take it home and heal it! My mother would help me make it better! She is an amazing healer, so everyone brings the sick and injured to her. I always try to help my mother, and Katniss convinces me that I'm so good at it, I should become a doctor when I'm older.

I love my sister dearly, and I wish she wouldn't go out into the forest. I know she is not alone, she has her friend Gale with her, but there are many people who are scared of the forest, and they say that it is dangerous. I don't know what to believe. I suppose Katniss and Gale do have a bow and arrow to hunt with, just in case something does happen.

It is peaceful here; lay in bed with the sun shining through the window, listening to the birds with my cat, Buttercup, lay on my lap. But all peace is shattered when I remember the contents of my nightmares for the past few weeks. Today is reaping day. The day when each district, gather in the town, in front of their Justice Building, for a young man and young woman (between the ages of 12-18) to be selected to compete in the annual Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games is basically just a fight to the death, in a public arena, held for the Capitol's amusement. It is a reminder of the rebellion that happened 74 years ago. Every twenty-five years there is a Quarter Quell, where the Capitol adds an additional twist as an extra reminder. Twenty-four children go in, only one lucky tribute comes out alive to be crowned victor. The victor gets a house in the Victor's Village, the only place in District 12 that is of any value.

Only one person lives in our Victor's Village – Haymitch Abernathy – but everyone knows that he blew all of his prize money on alcohol. We learnt at school that he was the second ever victor from District 12, and was the winner of the 50th Hunger Games (the 2nd Quarter Quell), at the age of sixteen. He is a 40 year old alcoholic now – What a role model!

This is my first year of having my name in the reaping ball. It is only in there once, but each night my nightmares consist of my name being pulled out. As much as Katniss comforts me, I can't help but panic. The reminder of this makes me shoot out of bed instantly. I let a small whimper escape my mouth.

As a distraction, I get up and go to feed and milk my goat, Lady. She was a gift from Katniss. I'm not quite sure why she got her for me, but I am grateful. Over the past 5 years, she has served us well, providing us with milk and cheese. I head back inside, carrying a pail of fresh goats milk. Katniss had just arrived back from hunting.

I'm greeted by a hug from Katniss, a "Good morning, Prim!" from my mother, and the smell of rabbit cooking. But I'm not hungry.

I refuse food, but sip at a glass of goat's milk while my mother and Katniss eat. I can tell Katniss is only eating to make me feel better, because she never normally eats on reaping day. But Katniss is used to this routine now. She is sixteen years old, so has gotten through four reapings already. As for me, I have another seven reapings to get through.

After breakfast, it's time to get ready. My mother has set out a skirt and blouse for me, so after I'm washed, I put them on. Then my mother splits my long blonde hair into two braids. I look at my reflection, and am slightly disappointed. My white arms hang limply down by my side, and my round, nervous face stair back at me with terrified eyes.

When Katniss walks in behind me, I let my jaw drop slightly; her dark hair is up in a single braid, and her bluey-grey eyes stand out next to the pretty knee length dress she is wearing. I can't help feeling a little jealous.

"I wish I looked like you." I say, longingly.

"No, I wish I looked like you, little duck!" she replies, tucking in my blouse at the back, which looks like a duck tail, giving me my nickname. "Hey, you want to see what I got you today?" she asks kindly. She reaches into her pocket and gets out a gold pin. It's a circle, with a Mocking Jay bird inside it, with an arrow in its mouth. It's Beautiful.

"Thank you." I say, accepting the gift. She pins it onto my shirt.

"It's a Mocking Jay." She tells me. "As long as you have it with you, nothing bad will happen to you. Come on now, it's time to leave" she takes my hand, and we walk side by side to the Justice Building.

My hands shake as we approach the town centre. I know Katniss can feel because she holds my hand tight to comfort me. In a way, I wish she wouldn't, because when we get there, our hands are just a clammy, sweaty mess.

As we approach the Justice Building, a wave of panic rushes over me as I see people having their finger pricked. As usual, Katniss is there for me.

"Shhh! It's okay, Prim! It's okay!" she ushers "It's time to sign in now. They will just prick your finger, it doesn't hurt! I promise!" she kisses me on the head, hugs me tightly, and walks away to the line for the older kids. I hesitantly join the younger kids in the other line.

The line gets shorter and shorter, until finally it's my turn. My hand shakes as I hold it out to the peacekeeper. She pricks my finger and I wince slightly. It feels like a bee stung my finger, and it reminds me of when I was little, before my father passed away. It was summer, and we had taken some food in a basket to the meadow for a picnic. A bee had stung my hand, and because I was only five years old, I cried. My father had held me in his arms until I'd stopped crying, and when I did, he kissed it better, and told me everything would be alright.

This memory of my father brings tears to my eyes, and I try to hide them as a put my bloody fingerprint onto the register sheet. I join the crowd in front of the Justice Building and search for Katniss behind me. I see her, and she gives me an encouraging smile.

There is a loud screech from the microphone, and a brightly dressed woman appears at the front doors of the Justice Building, a glass ball on each side of her. Everyone knows what they contain; one contains slips of paper with the male names on them, and the other contains slips of paper with the female names on them, one of which has my name on it.

The woman speaks, and it is obvious from her accent that she is from the Capitol. I think her name is Effie. "Welcome! Welcome!" she chimes "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour! As you know, we are gathered here today to select one courageous young man and woman to compete in the 74th annual Hunger Games. But first, we have a very special video, all the way from the Capitol!" The Capitol anthem plays, followed by a video, reminding us of the rebellion and the reason for the Games – we have been reminded so many times at school, they may as well just tattoo it on the inside of our eyelids.

Effie seems very enthusiastic about the video, as she knows every word of it, and has to drag her eyes away from the screen at the end.

"Remember, there are absolutely no volunteers! As usual, ladies first." With her words, my body tenses.

Her hand reaches into the glass ball on the left. All I can hear is my heart beat, pounding in my ears. I try to keep calm. _The odds are completely in your favor _I tell myself._ Your name's only in there once_. But my heart beats faster.

Effie unfolds the slip of paper, takes a deep breath, and reads the name;

"Primrose Everdeen."


	2. Chapter 2 - Great Advice

**CHAPTER 2**

My whole body tenses. All eyes are on me. Did I hear right? Did she really just say my name? I look around me to see if anyone else is walking forward. But no, it's me.

I feel as though my legs have turned to steel. They will just turn to jelly and collapse beneath me if I try to walk, surely? After what seems like forever, I take a step forward.

"Where are you?" Effie asks. "Come on up!" she orders, catching sight of me in the crowd. I walk forward, reluctantly. This can't be happening. This is just another one of my nightmares. In a minute, I will wake up, and Katniss will be there to comfort me.

I catch sight of a girl on the big screen: she looks a little like me, and is wearing the same clothes, but her back is straight like a meerkats', and her eyes are wide and terrified. Her shirt is not tucked in at the back, and is sticking out like a ducks tail.

Realising that girl is me, I become a little more self-aware. I try to act a little more casual, a little less petrified, and tuck my shirt in at the back. I approach the steps at the front of the justice building.

As the steps lurk nearer, I glance up at the screen again: the slouched girl is back, but this time her face is the colour of paper; like the white hot sun, or the ice white snow. I try to recover myself, and walk stronger this time so I can make it up the steps.

Half way up the steps, my legs turn to jelly again. I stumble over my own legs, and watch in slow-motion as the steps get nearer and nearer to my face, but I just about manage to save myself with my hands. A tingling pain spreads through them, and I rub them on my skirt, feeling a red hot blush spread across my cheeks.

I approach Effie, and stand beside her, as I have seen many people do before on the television. My legs still feel like jelly, so I take some deep breaths to try and calm myself. All eyes are still on me, and I can spot a hint of pity in all of them. I glance down at my sweaty, shaking palms to see little specs of red on them. I must have grazed them on the steps. I try to look as innocent as possible, and find Katniss in the crowd.

She looks just as pale as me, and looks on the brink of tears. Her bluey-grey eyes stare into mine, as though she is trying to swap places with me. I try to muster an encouraging smile – like the ones she gives me – but I'm pretty sure it didn't look anything like a smile.

"And now for the boys." Effie continues. She puts her hand into the other ball, and rummages around in it for a while, before pulling out a slip of paper. Every boy in front of the justice building is still. I presume they all feel as I did. Effie reads the male name. "Peeta Mellark."

I'm sure I recognise the name from somewhere, but when I follow the stares to a blue eyed blonde boy in the middle of the crowd, I am certain I don't know him. He reluctantly walks forward, his steps slow, like mine were.

Feeling an unexpected rush of panic rise in me, and a strong temptation to cry, I find Katniss in the crowd again, but her eyes are not on me anymore. They are fixed on the blonde boy, with a look of recognition. I am confused to why she recognises him, until I realise they are probably in the same class at school. They look the same age, anyway.

He ascends the steps without a trip, and stands on the other side of Effie. She steps aside, allowing us to shake hands. He grasps my hand, his deep blue eyes not leaving my greyish-brown ones. I'm sure the handshake went on far longer than it should have.

Some Peace Keepers lead us through the doors of the justice building, away from the staring eyes of the crowd. You'd think I'd be relieved to get away from the audience, but in actual fact it's worse. The pitiful eyes were a distraction from my inevitable death.

Peeta and I are lead into separate rooms. I have never been in the justice building before, so I don't know what to expect. The room I am put in is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen: the walls are painted in smooth paint. The crimson carpet is thick and soft under my feet, and the sofas and chairs are lined with velvet. Velvet. I remember the soothing feel of the velvet collar on one of my mother's dresses. That feel would relax me when I was trying to get to sleep as a small child. I sit on the sofa, and rub my fingers along the smooth velvet, but after a while I become restless, and turn to pacing the room.

The next hour is for the tributes to say goodbye to their loved ones. First to visit me is Katniss and my mother. The sight of them reduces me to tears, and the feel of Katniss' arms around me doesn't stop them. This will be the last time I will ever feel her arms around me.

We only have five minutes, so I turn to my mother. Her eyes are filled with tears, but they have not yet spilled over. I wrap my arms around her neck, like I did when our father died. A sob escapes my mouth, and I feel her tears spill over onto my blouse.

The doors open – our time is up. I run and cling to Katniss. My tears and sobs turn into half screams, as I feel my beloved mother and sister slipping away from me. If they don't leave, the peacekeepers will force them. I let go of Katniss, and she holds me at arm's length.

"Prim, it's okay" she tries to reassure me. "You'll be okay. Just learn how to use a weapon. I'll see you soon. I love you, little duck." A stupid thing to say. We both know that I'm going to die. She kisses me on the forehead, and leaves.

My mother wraps her arms around me, and whispers in my ear. "Don't forget I love you." I could I ever forget? She rubs my arm, and is gone.

I don't expect to have any more visitors, because I don't have any close friends or anything, so I set back to pacing the room. I am startled when the door opens once more. Standing in the doorway is the Baker – Peeta's Father.

Why is he here? He must be in the wrong place. I am suddenly aware of the tears down my face, and hastily wipe them away. Mr Mellark walks towards me, and hands me a paper bag. I open it to find some lovely, fresh, chocolate chip cookies. But why has he brought me them? Did he mean to give them to Peeta?

"Thank you." I say, my words shaky, and my voice hoarse from crying.

"I just thought I'd come and wish you luck" he says kindly. I have no reply for his words. No amount of luck will help me survive these Games. I nod. "I believe in you." He tells me "Enjoy the cookies." And he leaves.

I sit, and think about what he just said. _I believe in you_. Does he really believe I can win this thing, or is he just trying to encourage me? Probably the latter. But why does he favour me, a skinny 12 year old girl, over his stocky 16 year old son? I will never know the answer to this. And with that, the peacekeepers come and Peeta and I are lead away to the train that will take us to the Capitol

If I thought the Justice Building was beautiful, then I don't know what the train is. Its sky blue walls are more perfect than the sky itself, and the plush cream carpet feels like I'm walking on clouds. Silver dishes line the tables, in which are exotic foods that I have never seen before. Wherever I look, it is spotlessly clean, making me feel like I'm too dirty to touch anything. The riches are beyond beautiful.

"Take a seat," invites Effie, walking in behind us. "I'm going to find Haymitch – probably in the bar car." And she leaves the carriage through an automatic door. I sit on a cushioned chair, and feel as though I am sinking into it. If I wasn't on the journey to my death, I would consider this a treat.

The walls. They're the same colour as the dress Katniss was wearing at the reaping. The same colour as my mother's eyes. The thought of them bring tears to my eyes, so bring my attention to the array of food. There are so many colours, it's unreal. They are the colours of the flowers that grow in the meadow in the summer. Where my mother and father, and Katniss, and I used to have picnics. Everything reminds me of home, so when Peeta speaks, I am glad for a distraction.

"Have you ever met Haymitch before?" he asks, genuinely. I shake my head, scared that if I speak, the tears will just come spilling out. ""Neither have I." He tells me.

That's when he enters. The man who we learned about at school. The only living victor. Haymitch Abernathy. Drunk out of his mind.

He sways into the room, glass in hand, knocking a goblet off a table as he passes. I watch in disgust as he leans on the table to top up his glass. I stand, walk up to him, and prise the glass out of his hands. He and Peeta stare at me quizzically.

"No more." I tell him. "It's bad for your liver" I add, remembering something my mother once said. His harsh grey eyes stare into mine, and I immediately regret saying it. He turns his back on me, grabs another glass, and storms out of the room, mumbling under his breath something about letting people do their own things.

"What did you do that for?" Peeta asks, though there is no signs of anger in his voice, and his eyes remain calm.

"It's bad for him." I reply. "Besides, he needs to be sober to try and help us through this thing."

"Well, Haymitch is never sober apparently. Hence the reason he is the last person from district 12 to win – he's always too drunk to be bothered."

I wasn't expecting Peeta to respond like that. I get up and walk out of the carriage.

"Where are you going?" he asks, a little too quickly.

"I'm going to talk to Haymitch." I reply. And I leave Peeta staring. If I ever want to see my mother and sister again, I will need Haymitch sober when I'm in the arena. I head down the train towards the back end of it.

I find him, slouched on a couch at the back of the train, having a drunken conversation with Effie. When I enter the room, he stops talking.

He rolls his eyes. "Come to take this drink off me as well, sweetheart?" he slurs.

"No, actually. I came to apologise." I tell him. He takes a breath to reply, but is cut short by Effie.

"What for?" she demands.

"It was nothing, Effie. It doesn't matter." Haymitch assures her, but she doesn't seem convinced.

"It better not have been rude, because I can't stand bad manners!" she rants, and then she marches out of the room, with her head held high.

I go and sit opposite Haymitch while he pours another drink for himself.

"What do you want now?" he asks tiresomely, like I'm a nagging child or something.

"I wanted to apologise." I tell him again.

"And?"

"Talk to you"

"About what?" he asks, with no hint that he actually cares in his voice.

"About the games." I tell him. He looks up at me, a look of questioning on his face, telling me to carry on. "Well, I know I have no chance of winning, but how do I try?"

He looks at me, with no sympathy. How did I expect a drunk man to answer me straight? I brace myself for the answer. "You need to slow down! Most of the tributes are a bit more laid back!"

Did I really expect a decent answer? "You're the Mentor! You're supposed to help us! Tell us how to win!" I didn't intend to shout, but my last words were quite loud.

"Oh, okay." He says, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Embrace the probability of your imminent death." What great advice.

"Thanks for the wonderful advice." I say sarcastically. I storm out of the room. I've never been so angry before. I march down the corridor, but I don't go back to where Peeta is. I pass there and go further towards the front of the train, where our rooms are.

Once in the room, I get into the bed, curl up in a ball, and cry. Twenty-four hours ago, I could only imagine what it could be like to be selected for the Hunger Games. Now it is reality, which is why, for the next seventeen hours, I alternate between sleeping and crying and wishing that I was at home in District Twelve.

Mostly the latter.


	3. Chapter 3 - The Capitol

"Primrose, it's time for breakfast!" I hear a Capitol woman call. Why is there a person from the Capitol in my home, in District 12? How does she know my name?

I open my eyes and my heart sinks, as I remember the events of yesterday. I am currently on a moving train. I know, because if I look out if the window, I can see the blurred shapes of trees whizzing past. This train is taking me closer towards my death, because yesterday, I was selected to take part in the 74th annual Hunger Games.

I'm not hungry, but I get up anyway. My hair is still in the two braids my mother put them in for the reaping yesterday. I think about what my mother may be doing now. She's probably cooking breakfast. And there is no doubt what Katniss will be doing now. She will be in the forest, hunting with her friend Gale, to bring food home to my mother. I hope they are both okay.

I look in the mirror. I am dressed in the same clothes that I wore yesterday, and the gold mocking jay pin that Katniss gave me to keep me safe is still pinned securely to my blouse.

I open the wardrobe to find it full of luxury clothes, each in different styles or colours. Without giving it much thought, I pick out a cream skirt, and a sky blue blouse. The material feels smooth on my skin, and is much more expensive than anything I have ever touched before. I pin my mocking jay to the blouse, wanting to keep a piece of home with me, and unlock the bedroom door.

The corridor is empty, but I can hear voices coming from the dining room. As I get nearer, I realise the voices belong to Peeta and Haymitch.

"So how do you get sponsors?" asks Peeta.

"Well…" drones Haymitch. I can tell he's not sober, but I doubt he ever is. "You get people to like you."

"How?" pushes Peeta. Haymitch obviously isn't giving too much information, then, but it's a start. I push the door open.

They both stop talking and look around at me. "Good morning." I say, trying to pretend the encounter between me and Haymitch yesterday never happened. I take a seat at the dining table, and pour myself a glass of water. It tastes strangely sweet, and better than anything we had in District 12.

As the train speeds on, I sip at my water, and listen to Peeta helplessly trying to get some half decent advice out of Haymitch. But it's no use, because after barely an hour, Haymitch returns to the bar car so that he can get completely drunk before we get to the Capitol this afternoon.

I glance over at Peeta, who seems to be busying himself folding the serviette in different ways. He looks pale, like I do. Maybe he is nervous too. I wouldn't blame him if he was. I decide to try and break the silence that is hanging thick in the air.

"So, how are you?" I ask. He looks up in shock, as if he had forgotten I was there.

"I'm okay." He replies, with a small smile. "Are you okay?"

_What, apart from the fact that I'm going to be dead within the next month? _"I'm okay. Did you get anything worth my time out of Haymitch?"

"Not really. You know what he's like."

"A drunken idiot? Yeah."

"Did you manage to get anything out of him yesterday?"

"Nothing at all. Well, nothing interesting. His advice was to 'embrace the probability of your imminent death', or something like that."

"Wonderful advice!" he snorts.

"That's exactly what I said!"

"But Prim," he says, a more serious expression on his face. "We need to know something to help us in the games. I know have no chance of winning, but we need something! We can't just go in with no idea what we're doing! The careers will kill us straight away!"

"The careers?" I ask. In the last minute, I had almost forgotten about the games. I felt a little bit happy talking to Peeta, and at rest with the world. It was like just having an ordinary chat with a friend at school.

"The tributes from districts 1 and 2. They train for the games until they are sixteen, and then volunteer at the reaping. They're basically professionals in the games. They win it almost every year."

"Are they the ones who always group up together to kill the weak ones?"

"Yeah, and if we show any weakness, we will be their first targets." Peeta tells me. "So, what I'm trying to say, is when we are in training, we need to try hard to master everything, in order to get a high rating in the final assessment."

"Okay. Well at least there's someone here who knows what they're doing. Thanks, Peeta. See you in a bit. I think we're arriving in the Capitol this afternoon." I say as I leave the room

"No problem. Bye, Prim." I walk out the door, and down the corridor towards my bedroom. It's nice to know that there's someone here I can talk to.

I sit on the chair next to the window, and look outside. It takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the blurry landscape, but when they do, I see trees. More trees than I have ever seen before. A ginormous forest. As we move further around the forest, I see stacks of logs, piled high.

This is when I realise that this is no forest. It's District 7 – Lumber. I look closer, and I can see workmen carrying axes that look the size of ants next to the logs. I open the window a crack, and take a deep breath of the air. The air is fresh, and carries the pleasant essence of fur trees.

I close my eyes, and try to forget where I am, and where I'm going, and eventually manage to lose myself in the sweet smelling breeze that surrounds me.

It's peaceful here, and the wind tickles my face. I open my eyes, but I am no longer on the train to the Capitol; I am at home in District 12, Buttercup at the foot of the bed, and Katniss lay opposite me. I panic, and sit up, trying to take deep breaths.

The panic attack continues, until I feel Katniss' arms around me. "Shhh, Prim, it's okay!" she whispers.

"It was me!" I tell her.

"No it wasn't, you were just dreaming. It's okay. You're okay." It was just a dream. I feel myself relax.

Suddenly, Katniss looks up at the wall. My eyes follow hers to a big blackboard that wasn't there before. We are no longer at home. We are stood, freezing cold in the pouring rain, outside the Justice Building. Written in chalk at the top says 'Lost Miners'. My eyes search the board, and I find the name 'EVERDEEN' near the top.

A strangled sound escapes me, and my mother drops to her knees beside me. Katniss and I run to her, and we cling onto each other and cry. Images of my depressed mother, staring into nothingness, clinging onto a picture of my father flash through my mind, and I am awoken by a rough hand on my shoulder.

My eyes open, and I gasp. I suddenly find myself sat in the chair on the train to the Capitol. There are no longer trees outside, and the room is filled with a biting cold wind coming from the window. Peeta is stood above me.

"Prim, are you okay? I heard you scream!" Peeta seems honestly concerned.

I nod. "Bad dream. Where are we?"

"We're nearly there." He shuts the window and sits in the other chair on the other side of the window, and we sit in silence for a while. We don't speak, we just sit there in silence, and look out of the window. But the silence isn't awkward. It's what we both need.

The train takes a swift turn to the right, and suddenly the view out of the window is completely different. There is no more green grass or trees, but a jungle of towering walls. The buildings are in shimmering blacks, greys, and whites, and are in all different shapes and sizes. I am looking at the Capitol.

Beneath the buildings, I can see little colourful specs. As we approach, these specs become bigger and clearer, and I see that they are people. They are people, dressed in every colour and material imaginable. From deep purple, to glowing orange, so bright they would hurt your eyes if you looked closely enough. I have just about taken it all in, when it is gone, and the whole carriage goes black. I jump up, alarmed, but then sit down again, feeling like a fool, when I realise we only when into a tunnel.

I can faintly see Peeta's outline in the darkness. He is still stood by the window, as though he is still staring outside. I walk and stand beside him.

"It's amazing isn't it?" I say. He nods, but says nothing.

Just then, the train starts to brake, and eventually, daylight seeps back in through the windows. We are at a train station, and surrounding the train is a stormy sea of brightly dressed people, all trying to get a first glimpse of this years' tributes.

On nearer inspection, I see that 99% of the people here are completely alien-looking. Most of their faces are more metal than skin; gaping holes in their ears, and metal bars through their brows and lips. Others' bodies are more ink than skin; they have fancy patterns and pictures down their arms, and I see faces with tattoos creeping up their neck and cheeks. Others faces are dyed in a luminous colour, such as pink or green. And literally everyone is sporting a tonne of makeup and other fake things, such as gigantic wigs like Effie's, and foot-long eyelashes that look like spiders legs. I think I am safe to say that it is mayhem here.

The people are waving and screaming, and it is only fair if I respond. I hesitate a little, not sure if I want to do this, but I walk over to the window anyway, and wave back at them. They go berserk, and a moment later even more berserk, as I feel Peeta at my side. We wave and smile until a wall shields us from the crowd, and the roar of people quietens.

Effie leads us out of the train and away from the crowd up some steps. Then, we enter a smallish metal box with mirror walls and blue carpet. There are buttons with the numbers 1-13 on them, and Effie presses '13'. What's happening? I think to myself.

The automatic doors slide securely shut, and I have a strange sensation in my stomach. We are going up. This is a lift. I hold on tight to the railing around the outside of the lift, and try to ignore the sickening feeling within me.

I look across at Effie, who is stood without the aid of the bars, showing that she's done this a million times before. Then I look at the drunken Haymitch, swaying in the corner, with the strong smell of liquor evaporating off him. He also looks used to this. However Peeta is doing the same as me, and look as pale as me too.

It is a relief when the lift pings, and the doors slide open. I think I'll just take the stairs next time.


	4. Chapter 4 - It's Not Real

Peeta and I are whisked away immediately into separate dressing rooms. I sit in silence for a few minutes, the butterflies of anticipation swarming around in my stomach, and threatening to push tears out of my eyes.

Just before my mind trails into thoughts of home, the doors open, and a group of extraordinary people enter the dressing room. A woman with green dyed skin, a man with jelled back hair and tattoos, and another woman with so much plastic surgery, she looks unreal.

They introduce themselves as my prep team, their names being Flavius, Venia, and Octavia.

"Nice to meet you." I tell them, shaking each person's hand.

"We are here to make you up for the Tributes Parade tonight." Octavia tells me.

"So, if you'd like to follow me." Venia says, holding out a hand. She leads me to a bed, on which I lie. "I am just going to tidy you up a bit"

"What do you mean?" I question.

"Oh, nothing to worry about. I'll just do the waxing." She tells me. _Oh god._ I think to myself. Waxing!? I can't stop her through, so for the next half an hour I grit my teeth and bear the stinging pain, and try to hide my watering eyes. After, she soothes the pain by washing me with some special lotion, and my burning skin is instantly okay again.

Next, I am take to a chair, while Flavius washes my hair, and rubs all different lotions into it, making it feel softer than it ever has. He the puts my hair in two braids like it was at the reaping.

Finally, I am handed over to Octavia, who puts me through no pain, but just lets me sit there, while she makes my nails look more grown up with black false nails. And then she adds some gold to the tips of the false nails. I must say, they do look pretty.

They leave the room, and leave me alone in the room, wearing nothing but a paper thin nightie sort of thing. I wonder what I will have to wear. The stylists usually dress the tributes in a costume associated with their district. District 12 is coal mining. I remember one year, the tributes were wearing nothing, and were sprayed black like coal. I hope that doesn't happen this year.

Just then, the door opens, and a man with dark skin enters the room and approaches me. As he gets closer, I see that he has no tattoos or piercings. Only gold eyeliner.

"Hey there, Primrose." He holds out his hand which I shake. "My names Cinna, and I am your stylist." He tells me.

"Nice to meet you." I say. "Oh, and just call me Prim, if you don't mind."

"Prim. Okay, we don't have much time, so I have had your outfit set out just through there." He points towards a small cubicle with a curtain for a door. "Give me a shout if you need me."

"Okay, thanks." I say, glad that there is a costume, and that I'm not going to be completely naked.

When I'm in the changing room, I inspect the garment. It's all black, but has a shiny hint to it. Is this it? I'm not disappointed, but it looks fairly plain to some on the costumes I've seen people wear before. I quickly get dressed, and look in the mirror. The black material bugs my skin perfectly. I put on the matching shoes, and walk out.

Cinna smiles when he sees me. "Do you like it?" he asks.

"Yes, it's lovely, thank you."

"Well, you'll like it even more in a minute!" he tells me. He seems excited. He walks towards the door, and gestures for me to follow. When we're outside, I see Peeta walking down the corridor, wearing matching clothes to me, but manlier. We head to the lift, and go down to the ground floor.

When the lift opens, I am surprised to see twelve carriages, being pulled by two horses of the same colour each. The carriage with a number 12 on it is being pulled by two extremely handsome coal black horses.

Seeing all of the different costumes of the different districts is fascinating. I find the small girl called Rue in the hustle-bustle of people, and she is wearing a light blue dress with a wheat style head piece. Of course! District 11 – Agriculture!

Once we are on our carriage, Cinna speaks up. He is holding a flame. I raise my eyebrows.

"Don't worry, it's not real fire." He tells us, seeing our surprised expressions. "I will light up your costumes before you go out there. But there's no need to worry. You won't feel a thing

The crowd explodes with cheers as the last carriage comes out of the archway. Thousands of voices screaming and whooping is all I can hear. This is their first proper viewing of the tributes, and this is some first impression. Peeta and I stare straight ahead, as instructed by cinna. We were told to ignore the crowd.

Hats and flowers are thrown at us in appreciation, but on we stare.

It is a relief to get away from the roaring audience, and luckily, we are able to go straight back up to the top floor.


	5. Chapter 5 - Three Two One

The sight before me could be deemed luxurious. Designer furnisher, crystal chandeliers, and various doors heading into different rooms.

After a quick tour of the 13th floor, I am left to my own devises in a rather magnificent bedroom. I lie on the bed, and stroke the soft over throw on the bed. I miss home.

I don't really want to be thinking about home right now, because whenever I do, tears spring up in my eyes. To take my mind away from home, I watch the other district's reapings on a large television in the corner of the room. I could go and watch it with Peeta and Haymitch and Effie, but to be perfectly honest, I can't be bothered to put up with the drunken man that is Haymitch. I just want to be alone.

After what Peeta said about the careers from districts one and two, I pay extra attention to those two. In district 1, a skinny 13 year old girl's place is taken by a tall blonde 16 year old girl who goes by the name Glimmer. Then, a strong looking 17 year old called Marvel takes the place of a scrawny 14 year old boy.

In district 2, there are volunteers again. 16 year old Clove bravely steps in place for a small ginger girl. And a confident looking 15 year old boy is pushed aside by a tall athletic 18 year old called Cato.

In districts 3-10, they all seem pretty harmless, apart from a fiery red head girl from district 5. My heart breaks a little when I see the female tribute from district 11. She goes by the name of Rue, and she looks about the same age as me. She walks forward slowly, like I did, and stands quietly by the side of a short woman wearing a bright orange dress and wig. As the male tribute is selected (a strong 17 year old called Thresh) I see a single tear make its way down her face, leaving a shiny line on her dark skin. Sobs can be heard in the background, and with that, the television moves on to district 12's reaping. It's my turn.

I watch as Effie pulls my name out of the ball, and calls out for me. I watch as my petrified face turns paper white. I see Katniss' dumbstruck face in the distance, and hear my mother's sobs. I feel the back of my eyes burning, and turn the TV off quickly. I can't handle it. I'm too weak.

I curl up under the covers. The mattress is softer than anything I have ever slept on before, and after a while, I get lost in my thoughts and drift off to sleep.

I am awoken by a loud knock on the door, and the sound of Peeta's voice.

"Prim! It's time to get up! We're going down to the training room in fifteen minutes!" he calls through the door.

"Okay." I try to call back, but I'm still half asleep so it leaves my mouth as a mumble. I sit up to see that fresh clothes have been set out for me at the end of the bed; a black t-shirt with the number 12 on the back to show my district. Black skinny trousers, and a pair of black boots.

I wipe my eyes and get out of bed. The sunlight coming from the window makes me squint, but once my eyes have adjusted to the light, the view is extraordinary. The low set sun burns in a pale orange, which fades into a pale blue higher in the sky. I am higher than most of the buildings, so the sky reflects off rooftops and makes the streets below look dark.

I look across at the clock in the corner of the room. It's 10 to 7 in the morning! No wonder I'm tired! I sleepily get into the training clothes, and find that every item fits perfectly. After pinning my mocking jay to my t-shirt, I unlock the door.

Effie, Haymitch and Peeta are already sat at the dining table, tucking into breakfast. I sit to join them.

"Good morning, dear." Effie greets me with a smile.

"Morning" I reply, as I help myself to a croissant. I'm not hungry, but I feel weak, and I know I will need my energy in training today. The croissant is the only thing that looks slightly appealing to me. The silence continues for the next 5 minutes, and then Haymitch speaks up.

"Okay. Primrose, Peeta." He starts. He is most sober I have ever seen him. "Today is your first day of training. Do either of you have any particular skills?"

No. I don't. I glance across at Peeta, and remember something I saw him do once outside the bakery.

"I don't, but Peeta's strong. I have seen him throw a sack of flour right over his head." I tell Haymitch. Peeta looks confused, and a little irritated.

"I doubt that there will be a sack of flour in the arena, Prim." Peeta states the obvious. I open my mouth to retaliate, but Haymitch speaks before me.

"Yes, but it will be a good skill if anyone attacks you." He tells Peeta.

Peeta mumbles something under his breath.

"What was that?" I ask him.

"Nothing." I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Well, I don't have any chance of winning do I?" he repeats. And with that, he leaves the room.

The silence is awkward for the next couple of minutes, but it is broken when Effie lets out a small screech and jumps up.

"What?" exclaims Haymitch, looking up with a small jump.

"Look at the time!" says Effie in a panicked voice. "We need to go down!" We do as well. It's 7:02am.

"Okay! Calm down!" Haymitch jokes in a sarcastic voice.

We leave the apartment and step into the lift. Effie presses number 1 on the buttons, and the doors slide shut. The sensation is different this time, as we are going down, but it's not as bad.

"Okay, Prim." Haymitch says to get my attention. I look up at him. "Today, just try to get at least one weapon under your belt, and work on the survival skills too. You still have tomorrow and the final private session, so don't panic too much." I nod, suddenly feeling a bit queasy.

The lift pings loudly, as we reach level 1. Effie stops re-arranging today's purple wig in the mirror, and leads the way down a small corridor. When we get to the end, I am sent through a set of double doors, as Haymitch and Effie turn off and up some steps.

I enter the room, to find that all of the tributes are already in the training room, crowded around a stocky woman, who seems to be giving a talk of some sort. When I enter, all eyes are on me. I hurry over and join the crowd. I stand next to Peeta, who seems to be a little ashamed of storming out earlier, because his cheeks go a little red.

"You are welcome to try out any of the weapons and survival skills. Most tributes will go straight to the weapons, but trust me, most of you will die from natural causes such as starvation or dehydration.

"Remember, no fighting in training, there will be plenty of time for that when you're in the arena. In two weeks, twenty-three of you will be dead, and one of you will be left standing, so make the most of the next few days. You may begin training."

There is sudden movement, and the tributes I recognise from districts 1 and 2 (Glimmer, Marvel, Cato and Clove) join forces, and walk straight over to the knife throwing area. I watch in awe as Glimmer swiftly throws a knife at a far-away person-shaped target, hitting it straight in the heart.

I snap out of my trance when a voice speaks behind me.

"Where do you want to go first?" asks Peeta, making me jump. I look around for a free station, but there are none. The emptiest station is the climbing ropes, where a small figure swings from rope to rope with no effort at all. On closer inspection, I see who the small figure is. It's Rue.

I walk over to the ropes, just as Rue lands her feet on the ground.

"Hey, that was pretty awesome!" I smile.

"Thanks!" she replies, returning a shy smile.

"D'you mind teaching me how to climb like that?" I ask awkwardly.

"Sure!" she replies willingly, turning to a rope ladder, and gesturing that I climb the one next to her.

On the first attempt, I got half way up, before the rope twisted, and sent me flying towards the floor. I hurt my arm a bit, but I try not the let on, knowing that any sign of weakness would put me number one on the careers' kill list. I get up and dust myself off.

"You okay?" Asks Rue, hanging casually from her rope ladder. I nod "Just try to keep in the centre of the net to keep your balance, okay?" I nod again and attempt it for the second time.

This time, I get a bit higher than half way before the net twists. I concentrate as hard as I can on holding onto the rope, but after a few seconds, my hands become sweaty, and I lose my grip, falling hard on my back. A sharp pain shoots from my coccyx all the way up my spine, and I let out a small screech of pain. I feel light headed as I try to sit up. Before I know it, Rue is crouched in front of me.

"Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?" she asks, holding up a hand. I shake my head to clear my vision, and squint a little.

"Three." I tell her. She nods, and holds out a hand to help me up. I take it. I sway a little when I stand, but Rue holds my shoulders, to steady me.

Only now, I realise that every tribute is looking at me; some with small grins n their faces, but some with a look of pity in their eye. I wish they wouldn't.

"I'm okay." I say to myself, really, but I think everyone presumed I said it to them, because that all continued with their training.

I look around for Peeta, who is crouched on the floor at the camouflage station. As I approach, I see what he is doing. He has painted his whole arm like a tree trunk.

"Wow! That's amazing!" I tell him. "How did you learn to do that?"

"I used to decorate the cakes in the bakery." He tells me. Here, look, it's quite simple really. He shows me how to put a darker layer on first, and then paint on the lighter parts after. It looks pretty cool, and within the hour, my whole lower arm looks like a tree trunk.

"Hey, you're a natural at this!" Peeta tells me.

"Thanks! I'm not as good as you though!" I laugh a little. "I'm going over to the knife throwing now. You coming?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes." I replies. I head over to the knives, and pick up a small, yet heavy knife. I approach the instructor, as I have no idea what I'm doing. She is a tall-ish skinny woman with dark eyes and short black hair, and she introduces herself as Hazel. I can tell that she's from the Capitol by her various tattoos on her arms. Her hands look saw and cracked from throwing knives.

It takes her a while to go through the basics of throwing knives. She tells me how the way I hold it, and angle it will have an influence on how much the knife flips through the air. She tells me to focus on the target, and nothing but the target.

After she has demonstrated throwing it a few times, hitting the target's head once and heart twice, it's my turn.

I stand in place, and hold the knife steady in my hand. I take some deep breaths, and try to concentrate as hard as I can on the target. I am aiming for the heart. I try to block out my surroundings. Three. Two. One.

I throw the knife positively, and watch in slow motion as it spins through the air, getting nearer and nearer to the target. I gasp a little as the knife wedges itself into the wall, about a foot away from the target. It went better than I anticipated. I look across at Hazel who raises her eyebrows at me.

"Not bad for your first time!" she tells me, a small smile on her face as she hands me a second knife. "Try to keep the tension in your stomach, and focus a little bit more on the target."

I nod at her, and do everything I did last time, having a staring contest with the centre of the target. I take a deep breath to steady my hands, which seem to be shaking a little with the adrenaline. I count myself down again. Three. Two. One.

Keeping the tension in my stomach, and not taking my eyes off the target, I release the knife. It spins more this time, and seems to travel faster too. All attention goes to me, the scrawny, innocent, 12 year old girl, when the knife lodges into the centre of the target. Right in the heart.

"Geez, well done, 12!" Hazel exclaims, I wide grin spreading across her face. "I reckon you'd have given me a run for my money with that shot! Perfect!"

"Thank you!" I say, with a smile. Feeling father pleased with myself, I take the third knife from her. I do everything the exact same as last time, only now, I aim for the head. Three. Two. One.

Again, the knife goes sailing through the air and hits right between the eyes. I let out a small laugh of satisfaction. I didn't think in a million years that I would be any good at knife throwing.

The bell goes for lunchtime, and after thanking Hazel for her help, I realise how hungry I am. My stomach growls at me to hurry up. I go through the door into the dining room, and pick up a plate. Everything looks delicious, and I can't decide what to eat. In the end I settle with spaghetti Bolognese and garlic bread – something I have only ever eaten once before. It was years ago, when my father was still alive.

I take a seat in between Rue and Peeta, and the next 15 minutes is spent in silence, each one of us shovelling food down our necks, like it's going to run out.

When I feel completely full of food and drink, I make my way back into the training room. At first, I don't know what to do, but in the end I choose to spend my afternoon setting up snares and traps to get food. It takes me a while to get my head around, but once I do, it's as easy as tying my shoes.

I try a few different traps, and master a couple. I end my day making fish hooks with Peeta. It's a delicate job. It's like sewing something, because it needs to be precise.

In the last ten minutes, wanting to use all the time I have, I throw some more knives, choosing different ones this time. The heavy knife takes some getting used to, but if I use my usual technique, I seem to be able to hit the target. When the bell finally rings to signal end of training, it's like a switch is turned off in my head, and my eyelids suddenly feel very heavy.

Peeta and I make our way to the top floor without Haymitch and Effie, in silence. I suppose it's been an exhausting day for us both.

I don't remember deciding to sleep, but the moment my head touches the pillow, everything switches off.


	6. Chapter 6 - Another Career?

It took all of my effort to open my eyes and get out of bed this morning, as all my limbs are aching from yesterday. Muscles ache that I didn't even know existed, so climbing the net today is a real challenge.

Today, I find Rue by the climbing ropes, where she was yesterday, and she agrees to help me master the climbing. When I feel the rope wobbling, I concentrate hard on staying in balance, not wanting for yesterday to repeat itself. When I stay on top of the net, I grin to myself.

Two wobbles later, I reach the top of the net. A feeling of relief rises in my chest, and I smile down at Rue. Despite enjoying the adrenaline from reaching the top, I feel much safer when my feet are on the ground.

"That was great!" Rue congratulates me, an identical smile to mine on her face.

"Thanks!" I reply. "And thank you for teaching me! I couldn't have done it on my own."

"No problem!" she smiles, and she goes over to the camouflage station, leaving me alone. I decide to go and learn how to make a fire.

When I get there, the instructor, Benjamin tells me only to light a fire if completely necessary, because it would be a big risk to light a fire, because the smoke and flames would attract the other tributes. After and hour of trial and error, and only a little bit of smoke rising from the wood, a small flame finally sets alight, making me happy that I haven't completely wasted an hour.

I stand up and stretch my back, as it is aching from crouching over the pile of wood. I look around the room. All of the stations seem to be taken; the careers have split up, Cato and Clove using axes, and Glimmer and Marvel practising with knife throwing. Peeta and Rue are sat peacefully in the camouflage station, making their arms match rock and grass.

I'm not in an artistic mood, so when I spot an empty station, I approach it eagerly. However upon arriving, I regret it. Shooting. The bows and arrows sent my mind into memories of Katniss, and suddenly, I feel the back of my eyes burning. I blink the tears back, and approach the woman stood next to the array of different bow and arrows.

"Excuse me?" I start, when u get near her. She glares at me with deep green eyes. "I was wondering if you could maybe teach me how to shoot?"

"Sure." She says, turning to the bows. She picks up one of the smaller bows and hands it to me. It feels heavier than I anticipated. The woman picks up a bigger bow for herself, throws a sheath of arrows over her shoulder, and walks briskly over to a cross on the floor.

She holds up her bow and pulls an arrow back on the string.

"Watch and learn, kid." She says as she releases the arrow. It flies through the air, and hits just off the centre of the target. She lets out a deep sigh, and pulls out a second arrow. I watch her as she frowns at the target, pulling the string tight.

She releases the arrow, and it hits the centre of the target this time. She grins to herself, and hands the sheath of arrows over to me. I throw them over my shoulder like she did, and stood on the cross marked on the floor, facing the target.

"I don't expect you to hit the target first time. The bow and arrow takes a lot of getting used to." She tells me. _That's encouraging_ I think to myself. "Now before you send arrows flying across the room, try out the bow. Get to know it."

I don't really know what she wants me to do, so I just inspect the bow at first. I pull at the strings a bit, and imagine I am shooting an arrow at the target. I continue doing this for a couple of minutes, until I hear laughter behind me. It belongs to Clove.

"Hey, Cato!" she giggles. "Look, 12 forgot her bows!" I glare at them, and reach over my shoulder for a bow. I copy what the instructor did, and focus on the target. I pull back on the string, and feeling very aware of the sniggers behind me, I release the string.

The arrow soars through the air, and finds a place in the wall, a few feet above the target.

The sniggers behind me turn into loud giggles, which I try to block out as I fire the next arrow.

The next arrow flies lower than the last one, but too low, and it hits the floor before it hits the target. The giggle become laughter now, making it harder to ignore. I feel my cheeks redden, and I feel anger rise up in me. I snatch an arrow from over my shoulder, and without thinking much, I fire the arrow.

It flies through the air, and I guess it's third time lucky, because the arrow hits the centre of the target. The laughter stops abruptly, and I feel happy as I walk to lunch with Peeta. I reckon I'd have done Katniss proud with that last shot.

After lunch, the arrow only found its way to the centre of the target two more times, and they were only lucky. After a good hour of trying, I give in, and move on to something different.

I head over to the edible plants station, thinking this would be helpful for food if my traps don't work. The instructor keeps me stood there talking, showing me all of the edible plants, and the definite no-no's.

Obviously, I can eat blackberries, and a few other berries, including a strange orange berry which I have never heard of before. I can eat stinging nettles, however I would avoid doing so, due to my childhood fear of them. I never really knew why I didn't like them, it must have been something about the spikes that made them my enemy. Now I have worse enemies to be afraid of.

There are a variety of roots that are edible, one of which I am familiar with: Katniss root. The mention of my sister's name startled me when the instructor first said it, but upon realising that she was still droning on about plants, my heart deflated a little. When our father died, my family basically lived off Katniss roots, because they grew in the forest where Katniss went hunting.

Despite the many edible plants and berries, there are just as many poisonous plants, which all sound terrible. Some would poison you, to make you dizzy, black out, or hallucinate. Some would make you lose your memory, and you would forget where you are why you were there, and even worse, making you forget everyone and everything you love or care about.

However, there is one berry that stands out amongst the crowd. This deathly little blue berry is called Nightlock. Just one of these, and you'd be dead before it reached your stomach. I make a mental note in my head; _don't trust the blue berries'._

I leave the edible berries station, thanking the instructor as I go. I feel like this is the most well used time here. At least I won't starve, I think to myself.

I set over to have one last go with the knife throwing before the private training sessions tomorrow, when something that makes me stop dead in my tracks. I stare over at the other side of the room. As usual, the careers are in a pack, showing off their skills at the rope course. But their little group is not the reason I have stopped still.

There is another person with them, climbing the ropes at ease like a monkey. I notice that the person is a boy. He is stocky in build. Blonde hair. Blue eyes.

Peeta.


	7. Chapter 7 - Last Free Day

**CHAPTER 7**

I thought he'd have known better.

I thought that Peeta, the boy from the bakery, the boy who always seemed to steer away from the careers, would know better.

He _should_ know better than to go making friends with the people who would probably end up killing me, and _him_ for that matter. I am not angry. I am just at sea with the fact that he thinks it is a good idea to ally up with them. Doesn't he realise?

Doesn't he realise that they are back-stabbing idiots? Every year the careers turn on each other. Every year they end up killing one another, just so that they can go home, and show pride to their district.

I push it from my mind. _It's his stupid choice_ I think to myself, as I throw knives into the centre of the target.

Today, I take Hazel's advice, and try something different. I take four knives with me, and put four targets surrounding me. I then pretended that the targets were other tributes closing in on me. I swiftly throw the knife at the first target, hitting it in the head. I spin around and hit the next one in the heart. I turn to the next one, and the knife just about hits the targets shoulder. I spin around to the last, and panic. I hesitate as I release the knife, and it hits the floor just in front of the target, the sound of metal against concrete echoing around the room.

I feel disappointed. It was going really well until that happened. With a sigh, I retrieve the knife from the targets it takes another couple of tries to get it perfect, by which time, I have almost given up. When all four knives hit either the head or the heart, I couldn't help but let of a sigh of joy and relief. I think I am ready for the final training session tomorrow.

When the bell rings for the end of the day, I am surprised how quick the day went. I must have been throwing knives for hours. I head up to the top floor without waiting for Peeta, but unfortunately, most of the tributes end up in the lift together, meaning that after the level 12, when Rue and Thresh are gone, Peeta and I are left in silence. The climb between two levels has never taken longer, and today it takes about 24 hours in my head.

When we finally reach the 13th floor, I rush to my room, and conceal myself from everyone, ignoring the knocks on the door and concerned questions from Effie and Peeta. Of course, Haymitch is too drunk to care anyway.

I end up crying. Somewhere in the past five hours, my mind wandered away to the dark corners in my brain. The last thing I remember before I finally drift off into sleep, is that tomorrow will be my last full day of freedom.

I am running through a forest, my feet getting tangled in the long grass. I am using strip of my effort to run faster, in attempt to escape the snarling, growling dogs behind me. I see a large lake ahead, and go for gold. I sprint faster and faster, every one of my limbs aching. I finally reach the lake and push hard off the ground, diving head first into the ice cold water. The dogs stop in their tracks, their snarling faint now.

I swim deeper and deeper, and when I finally get to the bottom, I see a target about 100 feet away from me. A knife appears next to me, and it is obvious what I have to do. I pick up the knife, which feels heavy. I concentrate on the target, and release the knife. I watch as it sails through the water, closer and closer to the target. I watch as it lodges itself neatly… Into Katniss' heart.

I awake with a start, a gasp escaping from my mouth. My face is wet with tears, and my whole body feels clammy with sweat. I sit up and look at the time. It's only 7am, and I don't really need to be up until 8am today. But I don't return to my sleep, no matter how heavy my eyelids get. I am scared of returning to my horrendous nightmare.

I crawl out of bed and go straight to the bathroom to take a shower. I stand there for about half an hour, just thinking and absorbing the sweet smell of vanilla.

When I get out of the shower, I feel refreshed, and peaceful. When I walk back into my bedroom, I see that a fresh set of clothes have been set out for me. I pull them on, and go out to breakfast. I feel happy to see that Peeta isn't up yet. I take a seat next to Effie, and opposite Haymitch, who seems to have sobered up a bit since yesterday. When I sit down, he speaks.

"Prim." He starts. "Today, you have your final training session. I hear you have a certain skill with knife throwing?"

"Yes, I'm okay at it." I tell him, trying to be modest.

"Good. So when the Game makers are watching you today, make sure you show off your skills. Make sure they remember you." He emphasises the last sentence, like the louder he says it will make me remember it more. I nod.

"Okay." I say obediently. "Where's Peeta?" I ask, just out of curiosity.

"Oh Peeta. He's already down at the training centre, there was an extra hour of last minute training this morning. We did knock the door, but you were dead to the world."

"Do I have time to go down now?" I ask, jumping up so suddenly a mug of coffee nearly topples over.

"Hey, slow down! No, it was from 6:30 till 7:30. Peeta should be back any second, actually. And with his words, a very sweaty Peeta walked through the door.

Haymitch turns to him.

"Okay, Peeta?" he asks, looking at the state Peeta is in. Peeta nods, grabbing a towel off the radiator and drying his face.

We wait in silence, as tribute after tribute goes into the training room to try and impress the game makers. The time gets nearer and nearer. I have less and less time until I go into that room.

"District 11, Rue!" the peace keeper calls through the door. Rue stands up, puts a brave expression on her face and walks through the doors. Time ticks on.

"District 11, Thresh!" the peace keeper calls. Thresh stands, and marches fiercely towards the training room. It's nearly time.

"District 12, Primrose!" It's time. I stand up, and walk through the doors. I walk over to the laughing game makers, all of whom, appear to be drunk. I clear my throat.

"Primrose Everdeen, District 12!" I call to them. They turn their heads towards me, and I walk with shaking hands to the knives.

I wipe my hands on my trousers, trying to rid of all of the sweat. I take three different knives, and walk over to the first cross on the floor. 30 yards away is a target.

I take a deep breath, trying to remember everything that Hazel has told me. Three, Two, One.

I throw the knife, and it spins through the air, hitting the target in the centre of the heart. I can almost feel the tension in the room, as every single game maker has their eyes intensely fixed on me.

I walk to the second cross on the floor, which is 50 yards away from the target. I keep everything the same as the last throw. Three, Two, One.

Although I had aimed for the heart, the knife found its way to the targets head, but it doesn't matter, because it still got an approving nod from the game makers.

Now I stand 70 yards away from the target. This is a real risk, because I've only ever thrown it from this far away once before, but I take a deep breath, and count. Three, Two, One.

And that is what happens when you hesitate. A millisecond of hesitation, and the knife came clattering to the floor just before the target. The sound echoed around the room, and 5 seconds later, so did the sound of the drunken laughter of the game makers.

Anger rises up in me, like a python ready to strike. I storm to the knives, pick one of my favourites, and storm to the 100 yards cross. Three. Two. One.

There is silence in the room as the knife hits the centre of the target's head.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Girl on Fire

I nod my head slightly at the game makers, and leave the training centre. I find it amusing to leave them staring in awe. I take some deep breaths as I try to steady my shaking hands. In a way, I am glad that I missed the last target, because if everything had gone to plan and I'd have hit it, then I wouldn't have lost my temper and gone for the one hundred yard target.

As instructed, I go straight back up to the top floor. On arrival, I am whisked away by my Prep Team to the room I went before the tributes parade. I am confused at first, but then I remember – tonight is the pre-games interview with Ceasar Flickerman.

Ceasar Flickerman is the man with the crazy coloured hair. He the Hunger Games presenter, so is always on television at this time of year.

Tonight, I am going to be on stage in front of thousands of people, and on every television in Panem. When the thought of this strikes me, I let out a gasp.

"Are you okay, Honey?" Octavia asks, looking up from my nails.

"Oh, yes! I'm fine!" I assure her. "Just a bit nervous for the interview tonight!"

"Ah, I understand!" she smiles. "Ceaser can be a bit scary sometimes!" I smile my response, but don't say anything, because I need to stay still for Venia to do my makeup.

I sit in silence as Flavius, Venia and Octavia scuttle around me, applying different oils to my hair, and makeup to my face. But the silence gats the better of me, and once again, my mind is given too much time to think.

I think about Katniss. I think about my mother. I think about District Twelve. Home. I long to go home.

Although I am not aware of it, I somehow end up crying. Before I know it, I am wrapped in Octavia's arms, as Venia wipes my face, desperately trying to save the mascara which is running down my face. I sob my heart out to these people, and somehow, I don't even feel embarrassed about it. They must have had so many tributes cry to them in all the time they have been stylists.

They don't ask me what's wrong, or why I am crying. They just seem to understand. I don't know how long I cry for, but when my eyes have dried out, my makeup is completely ruined, meaning that Venia has to do it all over again.

After a quarter of an hour of hard work, Venia has worked her magic, and my makeup looks just as it did before. I say thank you to each of them, and they leave me alone to wait for Cinna.

I don't have to wait long. Cinna walks in, with the usual friendly grin on his face.

"How are you, Prim?" he asks.

"I'm fine." I lie, trying to conceal the fact that I am incredibly home sick. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fabulous!" he smiles. "And when you put this on," he rummages around in a nearby wardrobe, "I'll be even better."

He pulls an outfit out of the wardrobe, but I can't see what's in it, because it has a cover on it. Cinna unzips the cover to reveal a simple, yet beautiful baby blue dress.

"Oh my! Cinna, it's beautiful!" I say, taking the dress and holding it up in front of me. Cinna smile widely, and directs me towards the changing room to put it on.

The material feels soft and silky against my skin, and I it makes me feel about four years older. I look in the mirror, and if I didn't know better, I wouldn't believe it was me.

My blonde hair is up in a tight bun, except for a fringe, which is curled at the end. My makeup looks just as amazing as it did before I cried it off, and the blue eye shadow is the exact same colour as my dress. Despite being so simple, the magnificent dress brings out a certain twinkle in my eye that couldn't e seen before. My face looks brighter and happier, not like a girl who will more than likely be dead in a couple of days. It is perfect.

I open the door and reveal myself to Cinna, who has been waiting in anticipation while I got changed. When he sees me, I'm not even joking, his grin literally spreads from ear to ear. I smile, back and am about to do a little twirl when he jumps up and stops me.

"No! Not in here!" he exclaims, stopping me quickly.

"Why not?" I ask him.

"You'll find out." He says, tapping his nose. "Just make sure you twirl when you're on stage."

Peeta, Haymitch, Effie and I sit in the living room of the top floor, watching Ceasar Flickerman announce the training scores from this morning.

"From District One, Marvell, with a score of nine! Also from district one, Glimmer, with a score of 8! Now for District Two. Cato, with a score of 9, and Clove, with a score of 10!" As usual, all of the careers had high scores. I don't think there's ever been a low score from districts one and two.

The score from the other districts are pretty uneventful, the highest score out of them all being an eight from Thresh in district eleven.

"Also from district eleven, Rue, with a score of seven!" Ceaser says. I raise my eyebrows. I wonder what she did to get a seven!

"And last but not least, district twelve. Primrose, with a score of…" I stare at the screen, my heart is in my throat. "… Eight!"

I stare at the screen in utter shock. An eight?

"Well done, Prim!" Haymitch congratulates me.

"And lastly, Peeta," Ceasar concludes, "with a score of eight too! Well done everyone!" The Capitol anthem plays and the show ends.

"Well done!" I say, but immediately regretting it. Peeta and I haven't spoken since I saw him with the careers.

"Thanks, and you!" he replies, but he doesn't seem embarrassed about being with the careers.

We wait behind the curtains of the massive stage, listening to the crowd cheer as each tribute makes his or her way onto the stage. _Three people before you_ I think to myself.

_Two to go…_

_One to go._

_You're next._

My legs feel like jelly as hear Flickerman announcing me. I stand and walk towards the steps that will take me onto the stage.

"And next, from District Twelve, we have our Girl on Fire! Please welcome Primrose Everdeen!" Ceasar's voice echoes around the stadium, and it's time to go on.

I walk onto the stage, and gawp out at the audience. Thousands and thousands of people sit before me, and every camera is on me. I smile, and take a seat next to Ceasar.

"So, Primrose." He starts "How are you?" I take a deep breath, sitting on my hands to hide the shaking.

"I'm wonderful!" I say with a smile. "Well, I'm fairly petrified of the crowd, to be honest!" I joke, gesturing towards the audience.

"Yes, well who isn't?" he laughs. "Anyway, I have a couple of questions for you, Primrose. Firstly, do you have any siblings?" The thought of Katniss brings a lump up in the back of my throat. I swallow it down.

"Yes. Her name is Katniss." I say, holding my head up.

"And did she come and see you after the reaping?"

"Yes." I say, remembering the tears. "Yes she did."

"And what did she say to you?"

"She told me what to do. She told me to learn how to use a weapon."

"And have you?" He asks curiously.

"I'm okay at knife throwing…" I admit.

"One last thing," he says. "The fire. Was it real?"

"Oh, yes! It was very real! And then I recall what Cinna said to me: _Just make sure you twirl when you're on stage. _That's what he meant! "Actually, if I'm not mistaken, I may have them on tonight."

"Really? Can we see them?" I nod and stand up, walking to the centre of the stage with trembling knees. I spin around and around.

The crowd roars, and I look down. What I see nearly knocks me off my feet. Flames fly off the skirt of my dress, and the crowd is going insane to be that close to fire. I finally stop, and am excused from the stage.

From now on, I am The Girl On Fire.


	9. Chapter 9 - Days Left

I sit back stage, in silence as I listen to Ceasar announcing Peeta.

"And last but not least, from District Twelve, we have Peeta Mellark!" Ceasar's voice booms. The crowd roars as Peeta walks out onto the stage.

I am relieved to be off the stage. My hands are still shaking dramatically, so I try to calm them as Peeta and Ceasar have a friendly chat. The crowd laughs, and Flickerman moves onto the last question.

"So, Peeta." He starts. "Who came to see you after the reaping?"

"My parents did." Peeta says, slightly confused about the random question. And the he adds. "And someone from my class at school did."

"Oooh? Really?" Ceasar sounds excited. "Was it a girl?"

"Erm, yeah." He says awkwardly. "It was actually."

"And what was her name?" Ceasar pushes with a little laugh.

"Um, well I'm not sure I should say…" Peeta trails off.

"Come on Peeta! Your secret is safe with us!" he lies. The whole of Panem of watching, so spilling your secrets out in front of the cameras will certainly not keep them safe.

"Oh, okay!" Peeta gives in. "Her name was Katniss Everdeen. Primrose's sister." The whole room fills with gasps, and my head shoots up abruptly. _Why did Katniss go to see Peeta?_

"And why was she there?" Ceasar asks, being a bit nosey.

"She made me make a promise." Peeta says quietly.

"And could you tell us what that promise was?" Ceasar asks.

"To do whatever it takes to save her sister in the Games." More gasps. I don't know what to feel. I just sit there in silence. Peeta was going to try and protect me? Then why has he teamed up with the Careers? I don't know the answer to these questions, and right now I don't want to. The careers just caught my eye.

Cato, Clove, Marvell and Glimmer are huddled in a little group on the other side of the room, whispering excitedly about something. And I know what they're talking about. Both I and they know the next person who is going to be targeted in the arena. It is going to be Peeta.

Every year the careers target the weak ones, and anyone who gets in their way to get to the weak ones. I know, of course that I will be on their kill list, but I just hope that they don't get to kill me. For Katniss' sake.

I hear the crowd cheer their goodbyes to Peeta. I need to tell him. I need to tell Peeta about the Careers. I stand up and go to search for him, only to find he's gone. Haymitch is slumped against a wall nearby.

"Where did Peeta go?" I ask urgently.

"Ummm…" Haymitch stands there in his drunken state, thinking for a minute before pointing in the direction of the lift. "That way." He says, the odour of liquor spreading around him.

I run into the lift, and automatically press number thirteen. I suspect Peeta will have gone back to the apartment. But when I get there to find he's not, I am baffled. _Where could he be?_ He won't have gone to any of the other levels, because we're not allowed.

_Think Prim. Think_. The roof. I remember him mentioning something about liking going on the roof. I run to the door and climb the steps. When I get to the top I see him, sat on the edge of the roof. I approach him in silence.

"Peeta?" I say, sitting down beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." He tells me.

"Did Katniss really come to see you?" I ask him. He nods. "And did you really promise to try and keep me alive?"

"Yes." He nods. I don't know what to say to him, so for a moment I am just silent.

"Thank you." I say quietly. And then I remember the real reason that I found him. "Peeta?" he looks round at me, telling me to carry on. "You know the careers?"

"Yes, I'm sorry I –"

"Stop!" I interrupt him. "I'm not talking about that."

"Oh. Okay, carry on."

"I think the careers will target you in the arena. They always target the weak ones, so obviously they will be after me. And after the weak ones, they target anyone who gets in the way of the weak ones. What I'm trying to say is…" I hesitate. _What am I trying to say?_ "… Be careful."

"Okay." He grins at me. "And you." And with that, he gets up and leaves.

I sit there, feeling the wind blowing on my face. I am cold, but I like the feeling of being so high up. It makes me feel free. Like a bird. Like a _mocking jay_.

I hug my knees up to my chest, looking out at the horizon. I wonder where District Twelve is from here. I wonder how my mother and Katniss are. I hope they are okay.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, holding back the tears. I feel strange. I can't tell if it's a happy feeling or a sad feeling, but it's probably down to the fact that I can count on my fingers the days I have left to live.

**Thank you to everyone who has read this so far (every single one of the 693 of you!)! I honestly never expected to get that many views in a million years, so it really means something to me! And all of the reviews make me very happy, so keep them coming! Hope you enjoy this chapter, sorry it's a bit short! Thanks again! xx**


	10. Chapter 10 - Goodbye

I don't know how long I sit there in silence, but when I finally come around to my senses, the sky above me is dark, and covered in bright stars. They are beautiful, really. People just take them for granted, and never really think about the billions of stars up there.

I go back inside, intending to get some sleep, because I will need the energy for tomorrow. I have started to feel a little drowsy anyway, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, it's as if a switch was flicked in my head. Suddenly I am wide awake, and I know that I have no hope in a million years of sleeping.

The night goes a little bit like the one of my first night on the train to the capitol; very little sleep, and memories that replay over and over in my head until they force tears from my eyes. So I wake the next morning with black bags under my eyes, and I massive headache.

I am immediately whisked away to a place on the ground floor where I have never been before. There are all sorts of computers and technical stuff lining the walls, all of which I find amazing. I could stay here and stare at the things around me all day, because I have never seen so many in my life, but suddenly, Haymitch approaches me.

"Okay?" he asks me. He obviously isn't too drunk yet.

"Alright." I say, whereas in actual fact I am not alright – I am petrified.

"Now, when you are first out in the open, do _not_ step off that platform early. You'll be blown sky-high." I nod. I have seen it happen on the television before; a boy lost his balance during the sixty second countdown, and there must have been land mines on the ground around the platform. Haymitch wasn't exaggerating – he_ was_ blown sky-high.

"And my advice to you is to _stay away from the cornucopia._ It's a blood bath. Just run. Run in the opposite direction and find water. As long as you get to water, you have a better chance pf surviving, okay?" I nod, scared that if I speak he will sense the nerves in my voice. "You'll be okay." He assures me with a small hug. I hold my breath, not wanting to breathe in too much of the musky smell of dust and alcohol.

"Thank you for everything, Haymitch," I say, forcing a small grin.

"No problem. Sorry I was drunk most of the time!" he tries to pass it off as a joke, but I can tell he's not really sorry. As soon as the games begin, he will open up a bottle of liquor.

"Bye." I call, as he walks away, and then I am led into a big hover-craft at the end of the room.

I am ordered to sit down as I look around at the metallic interior. Most of the other tributes are also sat in the chairs around the room, but there are empty chairs too, telling me that there are more to come.

In time, the other tributes arrive, and the doors begin to close.

"Seatbelts on, everyone!" a nearby peacekeeper orders, and everyone obeys him. I am startled by a strange flipping feeling in my stomach, and look out of a small window. I watch in amazement as the ground beneath us starts to disappear.

Light suddenly shines through the little windows, signifying that we are in daylight, and the only visible concrete floor beneath us turns quickly to trees as we speed away from the capitol and towards all but one of our deaths.

The ride is generally quite peaceful, and no one really talks very much. I find myself in my own little world, staring into space, when suddenly, there is a peace keeper standing in front of me.

"Give me your arm." she says flatly, obviously used to the routine of doing this every year. I look from her frowning face, to the injection device in her hand, and immediately my heart is in my throat.

"Why?" I question her. "What is that?"

"Just give me your arm." she says with a sigh, and with that she grabs my wrist, lines up the device, and injects a small chip into y arm. I wince at the sharp pain in my arm, but it subsides quite quickly. However, I am still curious about the thing in my arm.

"What was that?" I ask her.

"Your tracker." She replies. Of course, I should have known! The tributes have a tracker injected so that they can be tracked down easily by the game makers.

The journey continues for a little longer before the windows are suddenly blocked out. We must be nearly there. A weird feeling rises within me. It's feels as though it's between my heart and my stomach, making me feel petrified and sort of excited at the same time.

My ears pop as we start to descend, and my heart starts to beat faster. I feel the hover-craft land gently, and the doors open. We are underground again, in a plain room with concrete walls and ceilings. Each of us are greeted by a different peacekeepers, who lead us all in different directions to different rooms, not giving us any time to communicate.

I sit in the cold room, wondering what mysteries sit just a few metres above my head. What will the arena be like? A forest, a jungle? A desert? It could be anything. Just then, Cinna enters the room, carrying a bundle of clothes which he places on the chair next to me.

"Here, quickly." He says. "Put these on, you don't have much time." I rush into the bathroom, and pull on the black trousers, black boots, and black jacket. My heart almost skips a beat when I see my mocking jay pin on the collar. I hadn't even noticed it had gone this morning.

I walk out of the bathroom, and suddenly I feel the strong urge to cry. I try to hold the tears beck, but the back of my eyes are burning too much, and before I know it, my eyes are about to overflow with tears. The full effect of what I am about to just hit me, like a football in the stomach. I wipe away the tears to hide them from Cinna, not wanting to embarrass myself. If I go out into the arena with tear-stained eyes, then I have not hope of getting sponsors. Suddenly a voice sounds.

"You have thirty seconds to get on your platform." A voice says, coming from a speaker in the corner. I turn to Cinna, who puts his hand on my shoulders and holds me at arm's length, looking into my eyes. I feel as thou he is reading my mind.

"You'll be okay." He tells me, with a grin. We both know that I won't be okay, but the thought is nice.

"Thanks, Cinna." I say, grinning back. "And thank you for everything. I couldn't have asked for a better stylist." I admit.

"No problem. It was a pleasure."

"You have twenty seconds remaining." Says the voice. With that, Cinna embraces me into a big hug, which makes me feel a whole lot better. We are only broken apart by the voice again.

"You have ten seconds remaining." I walk over to the small platform.

"Bye, Cinna." I say sadly, blinking back the tears that start to spring up in my eyes.

"Bye, Prim." He says beck. "Good luck."

"Thanks." I say, before the glass doors shut around me. A feeling of claustrophobia gives me the urge to smash the glass and escape, but there's no point. I will be free to run in under two minutes.

The platform begins to rise, and I take some deep breaths to try and calm myself. I am suddenly momentarily blinded by sunlight, before my eyes adjust to the light.

I stare around in awe. The cornucopia is in the middle of a large grassy field, which is surrounded by a forest of trees. A beautiful blue sky shines bright and cloudless above me, and the sun shines on the cornucopia, making it shimmer. The weapons also shine in the sunlight, and a pile of knives draws my attention. But I must resist temptation, and do what Haymitch told me to.

I look up at the digital clock which is ticking down from sixty.

48, 47, 46…

I look around for a friendly face, but both Peeta and Rue are hidden from me by the cornucopia.

38, 37, 36…

My heart rate picks up, and the anticipation makes me feel queasy. I take some more beep breaths.

24, 23, 22…

Each second feels like a minute. Suddenly there is a large bang, and I see a body fly up into the air on the other side of the cornucopia. The sound of a cannon goes off in the distance, representing the death of a tribute. A gasp escapes me, and my mind goes fuzzy with curiosity. Who was it? I hope and pray that it wasn't Peeta or Rue. I look up at the clock as a distraction. I need to get my head together.

10, 9, 8…

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the voice of Claudius Templesmith, the Hunger Games announcer, booms across the field, "let the 74th annual Hunger Games begin." And with that, the gong sounds and tributes run in different directions. However little Prim here, is stuck to the spot like a scared rabbit.


	11. Chapter 11 - Shooting Star

Fear rushes through my body, making everything go in slow motion. I watch as various people are thrown to the floor by an airborne knives or arrows or axes. I see Peeta grabbing a back pack and running into the trees. I watch as Glimmer, a Career, charges towards me, knife held securely in her hand.

I am pulled to my senses, and am suddenly in control of my body again. I gather myself together and run towards the trees, flat out. I have never run so fast in my life, but somehow I have a new trait now that my life depends on it.

I hear the sound of a cannon booming, representing the death of another tribute, urging me on. I'm nearly at the trees, and nearly safe, when I hear a whistling noise coming from behind me. It sounds as though something is being thrown. Oh God.

I feel the air blow gently on the side of my head, as the knife flies past me and falls to the floor in front of me with a thud. As I pass, I pick the knife up, knowing that it will come in handy when I am attacked. But I do not dare stop running, I can still hear heavy footsteps behind me. I try to ignore the stabbing pains in my legs as I urge them to keep going, but it is becoming too much. I need to stop.

But suddenly, I spot a small bank at the side of the track. It's my only hope. I glance behind me to see how far away Glimmer is, and notice that I have begun to outrun her. I set my eyes on my exit, and go for gold. My muscles scream at me to stop, but I ignore it, focusing ahead.

With one last glance behind me to check on my predator, I jump to the side, tumbling down the bank. I block out the scratches I feel on my face from the brambles, and the stings of nettles on my arms and legs, just letting myself roll.

I finally come to a bumpy landing at the bottom of the bank, and lay dead still. I hear a snigger coming from the top of the bank.

"Tough luck, Twelve!" giggles the voice of Glimmer. I hear her running away, back to the other careers, no doubt. I sit up, rubbing my head and looking around to see if there's anyone around. I can't help but smile to myself, thinking that I just more or less outsmarted a career.

I find myself in a small clearing in the trees, where the sun shines through a bit. For a moment, I just stare up at the trees, admiring the beauty of it all. But I suddenly remember where I am, and why I am here, making me suddenly very aware of my surroundings. Every snap of a twig or slight movement in the trees, which are probably just down to animals and birds, make me flinch.

I use a nearby tree to help myself up, leaning on it momentarily to get my balance. I didn't realise how dizzy I was until now.

I stumble out of the clearing, going deeper into the trees where people are less likely to find me. I am going to look for water, so at least I will have more chance of surviving a little bit longer.

However, after two hours of walking aimlessly, there is still no sign of water. I decide to stop looking for today, and instead I set out to look for a place to stay the night, thinking that I could maybe climb a tree, but none of the trees around here seem climbable. I finally settle with a big bush, deciding that its density will conceal me from any passers-by.

After spending the best part of an hour covering my face in mud, as a camouflage, I find that I have become quite tired. The sun has started to go down, making the forest shadowy, which makes me more vulnerable.

I climb clumsily into the bush, finding an area where the ground is a bit less bumpy, and lie there, staring at the sky. When I think about it, this morning was ages ago. The journey here is like a memory of years ago, and I very faintly remember how getting my tracker injected felt.

I have survived the blood bath. I escaped. Only very nearly, but I am still here, still breathing, still able to look at the darkening blue sky. I wonder who is dead. Is Peeta still alive? Is Rue okay? How many people survived the blood bath? These are questions with answers I can only guess at until midnight, when they show each dead tribute's picture in the sky.

I have been lay here for ages now. Countless hours of doing nothing, which makes me feel lazy. All I have done for the past god-knows-how-long, is stare at the sky through the leaves, watching it get darker. There are stars visible now, twinkling like diamonds in the pitch black sky.

I see a shooting star falling, and remember how my mother always used to say to me and Katniss that whenever we see a shooting star, it is our father watching down on us. This gives me hope, knowing that he is there for me too. I make a wish; _I wish I could see Katniss and my mother again._

All of a sudden, the Capitol seal appears in the sky, and the anthem blasts through the arena. I watch nervously as the faces of the fallen tributes flash up. For some reason, I am petrified of seeing Peeta or Rue's face appear up there.

To my relief, neither of them do, making me relax a tiny bit. I counted eleven. That is just thirteen people that have survived the first day, and I am lucky enough to be one of them.

*Katniss' POV*

I have been worried sick for the past few days, I can't get my mind off Prim. All I can think of is her petrified face when we went to see her after the reaping. I still can't believe that it was her. There was a one in a million chance of her name being chosen, it was virtually impossible, and yet the impossible had happened. And so, here I find myself; stood outside the justice building, watching Ceasar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith chattering excitedly about the 74th Hunger Games.

"So, Claudius!" Ceasar says excitedly, facing the little man next to him. "Five minutes to go!"

"Yes, that's right!" he replies, looking directly at the camera. "Ladies and Gentleman, in four-and-a-half minutes, this year's tributes will be released into the arena, and we will be a step closer to fiding our victor!"

I'm not really listening, just waiting. Waiting for the moment I get to see my sister. I wonder how she coped once she got to the Capitol. _What did she do in training? What weapons can she use? How has she coped with today?_

All of these questions and more fly through my head for the next few minutes, until suddenly, it's time.

The tributes appear out of the ground, and I search desperately for Prim. The camera finally shows her. She looks so pale and nervous, looking around and taking in her surroundings. She looks thinner than she did before – not by much, but I can still notice.

When the gong sounds, she just stands there, eyes wide and scared. I urge her to run, and luckily she does, because there is a career chasing her.

My eyes are pinned to the big screen, as I watch the knife narrowly miss her head, but the cameras only stay on the cornucopia where all of the action is happening.

I hope and pray that she is okay, but there is no knowing until the blood bath is over.

**_I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please let me know if you liked Katniss' POV at the end! I may do it again if you liked it! I would like to say a MASSIVE thank you to EVERYONE who is still reading, it is completely crazy that over 1k people have read my story! Thanks again! _**


	12. Chapter 12 - Much Better

*Prim's POV*

The boom of a cannon wakes me up, and my eyes shoot open immediately. I try to sit up, but I am lay beneath a bush, which is concealing me from the pink colour of sunrise in the sky. It takes me a few moments to get my bearings and remember that I am in the arena, awaiting my death. I can see my breath in front of me, and my fingers and toes are numb with the cold.

I stretch out as far as I can in my limited space, and wiggle my fingers and toes to get the circulation back in them. I will need to make a move soon. If there has already been a death, then it means that the careers are already out, and hunting people down.

I grab my only possession, which is my one knife, and as quietly as I can, I slither out of my little hiding place. I pause to listen for any signs of people and then stand up, and look around me. As far as I can see, there is no one around, so I start my day by hunting for water.

I take a random guess at where the big lake could be, and start to walk in that direction. I walk in silence for about an hour, and as I walk my mouth gets dryer and my stomach gets hungrier. I long for food, and even more for water. It seems that the more I go on, the hungrier and thirstier I feel. The journey goes on and on with no disturbances apart from the twittering of birds and one or two bangs from the cannon. The careers must be hunting, but I haven't heard or seen any signs of human life so far, so I can relax a bit.

I sit down of a nearby rock to take a break, half of the hope draining out of me. _I'm never going to survive this thing_ I tell myself miserably. All of a sudden, I spot something in the distance; a small bush, covered from top to bottom with berries.

My heart lifts as I scramble over to the bush, my eyes focussed solely on the little blue berries. However all hope is completely shattered when I arrive at the bush.

_Nightlock._ I step away from the poisonous berries feeling disappointed. I need to carry on going. Water is my main priority right now.

I turn around glumly, and head out in the same direction as before. It is just I am walking along through a fairly over-grown part of the forest when I hear it: the faint trickle of water ahead. I pick up my pace, and listen closely. As I walk on, the sound gets louder, and before I know it, I am standing by a river of clear and fresh water. My heart almost skips a beat with happiness.

I use all of my strength to stop myself from running straight at the river, but I do manage to stay back and check to make sure the coast is clear. After scanning the riverbank, I run quickly and quietly to the water.

Overwhelmed with relief, I kneel in the shallows of the river and scoop the water up in my hands, gulping it down hastily. The liquid feels cool and refreshing going down my throat, and I have to force myself to stop for a minute, not wanting to drink too much in one go.

During my second drink, I become completely oblivious to my surroundings, and am startled when I look up to see movement further along the river bank.

A small girl with fiery red hair emerges from a small cave about three hundred yards away, and I recognise her as the female tribute from district five. I freeze to the spot, scared to make any movement or sound, because as far as I can see, she hasn't spotted me yet. She doesn't see me for a few minutes, but suddenly, her head shoots up, and she looks directly at me.

There's five seconds of silence, in which we just stare at each other as I dread what is going to happen next. Suddenly, she makes a move, grabbing a sword to her right, and then charging towards me.

It takes me a moment to react before I grab my knife and leg it into the trees. It seems that this girl is a fast runner, because by the time I am in the forest, I can hear her footsteps splashing through the shallow river.

I urge my legs to run faster, pushing myself to the limit. I can hear her feet sprinting behind me, getting closer and closer to me.

Thinking fast, I take a quick turn to the left, and by the sound of the shuffling behind me, it put her off course a bit. I ignore the tightening feeling in my chest, and push on further, taking another turn to the right this time. Brambles tug on my clothes, but I pull away from their grasp getting hope from the fact that the footsteps are getting quieter. A few more sharp turns and hopefully I will get away.

Suddenly, my feet get tangled in a particularly big bramble bush, and I let out a gasp as I feel myself falling. Somehow, I manage to stay on my feet, but I cannot relax yet. In the split second that I tripped, the girl (whose name I don't know), has managed to catch up with me a bit.

I hear her sword swipe out behind me, and a small scream escapes me as I feel the air blow on the back of my head. _I'm dead_ I think to myself_ she's going to kill me._ I say a mental goodbye to my mother and Katniss, and hope that they do not have to watch my death.

Through the pounding in my ears, I hear the sword swipe again. This time, I am not so lucky. A sharp pain rushes through my shoulder, and there is a strange warm trickling feeling on my shoulder blade.

The pain blinds me for a second, and I skid to a halt, clutching my shoulder, and forgetting for a moment that the girl is there. I turn to her, to see that her face is completely white. I flinch as she makes a sudden movement, and then I see her running away, sword in hand.

I sit down on the floor and lean against a tree, closing my eyes to try and stop my head from spinning. I try to block the throbbing pain in my shoulder, too scared to look at the damage that has been done. All I need to know is that I have been injured. A thousand questions fly through my head; _why did she run away? Why didn't she just kill me then and there? Surely it would have been easy, I was literally stood right in front of her._

I don't know how long I sit there, with my head down, but when I open my eyes, I sense someone stood not far away. I gasp as I scramble away, the wound on my shoulder re-opening and sending another trickle of blood down my back.

Once I overcome the initial shock and my eyes focus, I notice that the person is Rue. Her pitch black hair is in wild curls, and her deep brown eyes look tired in the shadows in the trees. I don't know what to do, so I just sit there staring at her until I finally pluck up the courage to speak.

"Rue?" I say cautiously. She slowly walks forward without a word, and I start to get up, thinking that she's going to attack.

"It's okay," he says in a quiet tone, "I'm not going to hurt you." I feel myself relax a little, but not completely. She crouches down next to me and inspects the injury on my back.

"Ouch." She says, more to herself than me. "Who did that?"

"The girl from five." I tell her, feeling a sharp pain in my shoulder. And then it hits me what Rue is doing here. She's not here by any coincidence. "Do you want to be allies?"

"Really?!" she says, raising her eyebrows at me in surprise.

"Yeah!" I say encouragingly.

"Sure!" she smiles at me, making me feel warm inside, knowing that I have at least one person on my side.

The sun is nearly down, and Rue and I are sat in a tree by the river. Thanks to Rue, I have filled my stomach on some berries she had found, and I have showed her where to find water. We sit together in the tree, talking in hushed tones about nothing in particular. Suddenly, there is movement and a rustle of leaves above our heads, making us both jump.

The thing that made the noise was a small silver parachute with a parcel attached to it. Both of our faces light up, and Rue climbs up to get it. We unwrap the small parcel like children on Christmas day, wondering what will be inside.

Concealed inside the silver packaging is two separate parcels; in one package is two small loaves of bread, in a crescent shape with small seeds on top, and wrapped tightly in the other package is a tiny little tube, not even big enough to cover the palm of my hand

"Ooh, I _love_ this bread!" Rue says in an excited whisper. "My family used to have this as a treat every once in a while! It's District eleven's signature loaf!" before tucking in, she reads out some writing form a delicate looking piece of paper which it concealed in with the bread.

"Good choice in ally, keep up the good work." Rue reads out loud. "It's from my mentor, Jess!" with a small grin, she picks up one loaf and hands it to me, before grabbing the other and braking it open, taking a deep breath of the fresh smell.

The bread is still warm, and tastes absolutely delicious considering I have eaten next to nothing for the past forty eight hours. The pot lays forgotten until we have finished eating, and we savour every mouthful.

"I wonder what's in here?" I say, picking up the small tube.

"Open it!" Rue says, as she swallows her last mouthful. All of a sudden, I notice a small slip of paper in the torn packaging. _Four drops should do. – H. _

"It's from Haymitch!" I say, a little too loudly in my shock. Never in a million years did I expect any gifts from Haymitch, or even sponsors. The crowds must have liked the fact that Rue and I allied up.

Ever so carefully, I screw the lid off what I presume by the message is medicine. With some help from Rue, four drops of the horrid yellow liquid is dropped into the wound on my back. The effects are immediate. The pain disappears, and the cut may as well not be there anymore. I let out a sigh of relief, as I feel the tension in my body relax.

"Better?" Rue asks with a smile.

"Much better." I grin back.


	13. Chapter 13 - A Faint Buzzing Noise

Four days pass by slowly, and Rue and I become closer and closer. I learn about what it's like in District 11, and tell her about District 12. She tells me about her love for music and singing, and I tell her about my talent with medicines. I discover that she has three younger sisters and a younger brother, and I tell her about my mother and Katniss. We both find each other's stories intriguing, and I could sit here all day and learn more.

However we can't afford to talk. We are in this arena to die, and we have to make a move. There have been only three deaths in the past four days, and none in the past twenty-four hours, so It's only a matter of time before someone else dies, and with only eight remaining, my hopes are fading. We plan to move to a different tree today, just in case someone knows we are here, so here we are, packing our very few possessions into one small bag.

"We should head in that direction." Rue says, pointing behind her.

"Where's that?" I ask, trying to get my bearings.

"Toward the cornucopia." she says, before seeing my concerned expression and adding. "But we will stay in the forest. You know, just to hide us a bit. And we should probably follow the river so we still have access to water

"Okay." I agree. "Do we have enough food?"

After checking the bag she replies. "Only a handful of berries, and some nettles."

"Yeah but we can keep a look out for more on the way, can't we?" I say.

"Yeah of course." She replies, and then she jumps down from our branch, landing lightly on the muddy ground. I follow, landing a bit less heavy than Rue did, making it look more like a fall than a jump.

We set off through the forest in silence, staying constantly aware of our surroundings. I keep my hand on my knife, flinching every time I hear a bird tweet or rustle the branches of a tree.

The sun is at its highest in the sky, and its heat is warmer than it has been all week. I wipe a bead of sweat of my forehead, and carry in walking. Suddenly walk into Rue. She has stopped dead in her tracks.

"Rue, what are you-"

"Shhhh" she says quietly, staring straight ahead. My eyes follow her gaze, until I see movement in the distance.

Trying to move as quickly and quietly as we can, we run to a nearby tree, climbing it urgently. Once we are hidden in the shadows of the leaves, we stop to listen. Cheerful voices can be heard in the distance, and I recognise them as the Careers', because no one else would be having this much fun in here.

Rue and I exchange scared glances as the voices near our tree, and every breath I take seems to as loud as a shout.

Luckily, they are too busy laughing at Cato's impression of the girl from District 4 to notice us, concealed behind the leaves. As they get further away, both of us let out a small sigh of relief, but do not talk in case they can still hear us. It is in this silence that I hear it: A faint buzzing noise coming from above our heads.

*Katniss' POV*

My heart races as I watch my sister and Rue sit in the tree, out of reach from the Careers, but not knowing what danger is directly above their heads. I want to scream at the screen! I need to let them know that there are Tracker Jackers directly above their heads!

"Am I right in thinking that those are Tracker Jackers?" Ceasar Flickerman asks Claudius Templesmith on the big screen outside the Justice Building.

"I am afraid so." Claudius replies looking very concerned.

Ceasar raises his blue dyes eyebrows and looks straight into the camera. "Ladies and Gentlemen, in case you didn't know, Tracker Jackers are genetically engineered wasps designed to attack victims. A couple of stings are harmful, causing powerful hallucinations, but several stings can cause the victim's death."

My hands begin to shake, and I can feel my mother shaking beside me. I grab onto her hand, mainly to support her, but it also helps me.

*Prim's POV*

When I look up, I nearly fall from my branch when I see some giant wasps swarming above us. Without speech, I try to tell Rue, but she has already spotted them. We take extra care I trying to climb down the tree as quietly as possible, pretending that every branch is made of glass. Everything is going okay until a wasp stings me on my neck.

I let out a small scream, but immediately cover my mouth the moment it comes out. It was a big mistake. The buzzing gets louder, and I feel two more stings on my arm. I can hear Rue screaming too, and I try my hardest to flail my arms around to get rid of them.

In my panic stricken, dizzy state, I see the Careers jogging cautiously towards us. They don't come too close, in fear of getting stung, and somehow, I manage to summon up enough energy and courage to throw two knives.

It's not something I would do normally, but either the venom surging through my veins, or the six days of living with a death toll has brought out another side of me, as I try to protect not only my ally, but my friend.

My arms begin to feel heavy and I start to realise that these aren't just any old wasps. The venom of the Tracker Jackers starts to kick in, and slowly, my limbs become weaker and heavier. As if through water, I see the Tracker Jackers change their targets, having done their work here. I feel a twinge of amusement as the Careers speed off in the opposite direction, away from their two allies, who are slumped on the ground with knifes in their hearts.

In my foggy mind, I hear the cannon boom three time. I do not have enough energy to think about who is dead. In a slow motion blur, I watch as Rue falls to the floor with a thud, covered from head to toe in Tracker Jacker stings. And that is the last thing I remember before everything goes black, and I am sent into a world of nightmares and hallucinations bringing back every single bad memory, and facing me with my worst fears.

**Thankyou to everyone still reading this story! it really does mean a great deal to me! hope you enjoyed this chapter! x**


	14. Chapter 14 - Loss

I wake with a banging headache and blurry vision, and my ear is ringing a little bit too. The sun is getting lower in the sky, signifying that it is quite late at night and the sky is a beautiful blend of blue pink and orange. I sit up, rubbing my eyes, trying to get rid of the feeling in my eyelids like they have weights on them.

At first I am confused to why I am lay on the floor in the middle of a forest, but then my memory returns and suddenly my main priority is to make sure Rue is okay. I look to the spot where I think I remember seeing her last, but she isn't there. I look all around me, but still there is no sign.

"Rue?" I call quietly. There is no reply.

"Rue?!" I raise my voice a little, just in case she can't hear me. But still there's nothing. Starting to panic, I stand up, swaying on the spot a little before I go anywhere. I quickly grab the small bag containing the medicine from Haymitch, a bundle of berries, and a small water bottle, and then head towards where I think the lake is, hoping to find rue there.

When I finally arrive at the lake, there is no sign of any human life whatsoever. My panic rises. _What if one of the careers took her?_ No, they would have taken me too. _What if she thought I was dead and left me?_ No, rue isn't like that, she would have had to have been sure before she left the alliance. _What if _she's_ dead?_ My mind races with all different scenarios, until my throbbing head can't take any more.

I sit on a rock by the river bank and take a few sips of water. I haven't drank anything for however long I was asleep for, and my throat is dry. In the places that the Tracker Jackers stung me, my skin is red and inflamed, and it feels as though it has been burned with a red hot poker. The medicine that I got from Haymitch has no effect, and neither does water. I will have to find some plant to put on it.

I search my head, looking for information that I may have learned in training. I remember there being some kind of leaf that helps heal stings, and my mother has used it on some of her patients before, but I don't remember the name. It is a large green leaf, and Katniss used to get it from the forest, so I must be here somewhere.

I set out through the trees, keeping an eye out for the leaf. I have only been searching for about tem minutes when I see them, hanging from a low tree. I run over to them, picking wodge of them and thinking what to do next.

An image flashes up in my mind of my mother, spreading a green leafy paste onto a man's back, and I recall that it helped a lot. I put the leaves into the lid from the water bottle, and grind them up with some water using a rock. When I have done this, I apply the paste to my various stings.

The leaf works like magic, and the burning stings have an instant cooling effect run through them.

I lean back on the tree I have decided to climb – or more scramble – up, and close my eyes, trying to calm my mind. _It's okay, she'll be back soon_ I tell myself, taking some deep breaths and hoping with every bone in my body that I am right.

The sun slowly sets, and the sky goes from pastel blues and oranges to the darkest shade of blue possible, making the stars shine brighter than ever like Christmas lights. The pain in my head has subsided a tiny bit, but it still throbs every now and again. I try to ignore it, taking sips of water and waiting for the capitol seal to show in the sky.

When at last it does, and the capitol anthem blasts through the arena, I jerk my head up so fast that it hurts my neck. _'The Fallen' _flashes up in the sky, and my attention is soulfully on the sky. Only one face flashes up.

Her face is so innocent, so young, and her dark brown eyes shine like diamonds in the night sky. Her dark skin looks so smooth and realistic on this projection on the sky, and I wish it wasn't up there. As soon as Rue's face disappears from the sky, my mind just stops working. I freeze to the spot, and I feel like all of the wind has been knocked out of my chest.

_This can't be happening. This isn't real._ No matter how many times I tell myself these things, I can't make myself believe them. This is real, no matter how much I want to deny it. I wipe away tears that I didn't know had fallen, but they are replaced by fresh ones.

I shouldn't be this effected by Rue's death. I only knew her for about five days, but the sadness I feel is uncontrollable, so take a few minutes to calm myself, taking deep breaths.

I eventually relax, and without planning to, I fall asleep. I fall into a stupor of nightmares, as my brain re-enacts the incident with the Tracker Jackers over and over in my head.

"Attention, Attention, Tributes!" Claudius Templesmith's voice wakes me, as it echoes through the surrounding trees. "The rules allowing only one victor to be crowned have been changed. Two victors may now be crowned if they both originate from the same district. That is all."

Thoughts race through my mind. _Peeta? Is he still alive? He could have died while I was unconscious. _I refuse to let myself think about these things, and I jump down to the ground. Peeta could be anywhere and I am determined to find him.

*Peeta's POV*

A week into the Games, and still, nothing from Haymitch. Nothing at all. Not even medicine for the wound on the bottom of my foot I got when I stood on someone's broken down snare. I have managed to live off berries and a rabbit that someone had snared and forgotten about for the past week, and I was lucky enough to find water in the first ten minutes of looking, but I am beginning to get hungry now because it is hard to walk on this foot.

I have been awake all night, un-able to sleep in this awkward position. My camouflaging skills have come in handy so far, and I have disguised myself to fit in with the rocks by the river, covering myself in moss and clay to make my skin grey. It works too. The careers didn't spot me.

The announcement brings me to my senses. "Attention, attention, tributes." Rings Claudius Templesmith's voice. "The rules allowing only one victor to be crowned have been changed. Two victors may now be crowned if they both originate from the same district. That is all."

I sit up suddenly.

"Prim." I whisper to myself. I promised her sister that I would try to protect her, and now is my chance to do that. I scramble to my feet and hobble over to a nearby tree. I snap a strong branch off to use for a crutch and set off through the forest. It's still difficult to walk, but the handmade crutch does help a bit.

After what seems like hours of walking, I hear a distant scream. It is the scream of a girl. I pick up my pace, wanting to know more and hoping it's not Prim.

Prim hangs upside-down with rope bound around her feet. Someone has caught her in a trap, and her face is getting redder by the second. I hobble over to her as fast as I can, and grab a knife that lies on the floor.

Her terrified eyes follow me, but she doesn't speak. I suddenly wish that I was tall like my father, as I try to stand on the tips of my toes to cut the rope. My hands are starting to get clammy, and the knife is slipping in my hands, but I carry on. The rope finally breaks through, and Prim falls to the floor, gasping.

"Are you okay?" I ask kneeling down on the floor beside her. She nods her head, still trying desperately to catch her breath. Without speaking, she picks up a small bag, and opens it. She hands me a small pot, and points at my foot.

"Put it on, it will make you better." Prim says. I do as I'm told and immediately feel the pain in my foot disappear. The medicine has a magical effect, but I can' help feeling a little bit envious. Prim has obviously had an injury and Haymitch has sent this to her, so why hasn't he sent me anything?

We head to a tree to spend the night, and after Prim has helped me up as I pathetically try not to hurt my foot, we spend the rest of the afternoon talking about what has happened so far. We exchange stories of the past week, and I am devastated to think about how sad Prim must have been when Rue, her ally and friend, died.


	15. Chapter 15 - The Feast

*Prim's POV*

"Attention, Attention, Tributes!" Claudius Templesmith's voice booms through the arena once again. "There will be a feast at sunrise at the cornucopia. This will be no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something, desperately, and we intend to be… generous hosts. This will be the final announcement." The noise echoes for a moment before there is silence.

"What do you reckon there is there for us?" Peeta asks, looking around at me, his blue eyes twinkling in the moonlight.

I stop to think for a moment before replying. "Weapons?" I suggest. "Would they be _that_ generous?"

"Probably." Peeta says. "Do you think we should go?"

"Probably." I reply, mimicking his response.

"You sure?" he asks wearily, as though he doesn't think I can handle it.

"Yeah." I say. He raises his eyebrows at me, so I add. "In fact, we should probably get moving now."

"Okay." He says. "I suppose we are pretty far away from the cornucopia."

"Which direction do you think it is?" I ask as I start to pack little things into our small bag. Peeta points behind him, and we jump down from the tree, and start walking down the extremely lumpy hill.

Ten minutes into our journey, the Capitol seal shows in the sky, and the anthem plays, but there is no one dead today. The anthem tells us that it is midnight. We have until sunrise to get to the cornucopia, and on the opposite side to the Careers.

When we reach the cornucopia, the sun is almost over the edge of the horizon, the sky a mixture of blue and orange. We wait anxiously, staring at the cornucopia with its golden surface shimmering in the early morning light, ready to run.

The sun finally peeks over the horizon, and there is suddenly movement by the cornucopia. As if out of nowhere, a metallic looking table slots into place just outside the mouth of the cornucopia, where the weapons were. Four bags appear on the table, and with a final look of confirmation with Peeta, we run.

I grab the orange bag with the number twelve on it, and turn to run, only to find my path blocked. Thresh is running straight towards me, a spear held tightly in his drawn-back hand. I try to ignore the jelly like feeling in my legs, and spin around, grabbing Peeta's arm, and start to run towards the forest.

My legs finally give in, crumbling beneath me. I try desperately to climb to my feet, but everything to go in slow motion, and my legs feel heavy as if in a nightmare. I watch everything happening around me, Clove running to the cornucopia, The girl from district five sprinting back into the forest, a green bag in her hand with the number five on it. I could even be watching on the big screen at home, but it feels too real.

Thresh releases the spear, and it probably would have hit me if he hadn't have fallen as he threw it. Only I think he has fallen, until I see the knife lodged in his back. As if through water, I hear the cannon boom, signifying his death. His spear sinks into the ground about one metre from where I sit. I look past Thresh's sill body to see Clove, sprinting toward us.

I feel Peeta's arms lift me to my feet, and he drags me away. We run as fast as we can towards the forest again. Footsteps pound behind us, urging us to carry on, keep us running from our death. I search my mind for an escape, and remembering my first day in the arena, I get level with Peeta.

"You see that bank further up here?" I say, quiet enough that the rampaging career behind us can't hear. Peeta nods. "Jump down there. I'll keep running."

"What? No!" he throws a sideways glance at me.

"Just do it!" I say. "We need to spit up!" he doesn't argue, just carries on running in silence. When we get to the bank, he jumps. I carry on running as fast as I can, and the footsteps continue thumping behind me.

There's a sharp turn in the path, but I don't follow it, I just carry on running trough the overgrown grass that my feet get temporarily tangled in. sensing that Clove isn't giving up, I look for a tree to escape up. Seeing one with low branches, I head towards it, and launch myself up into the branches, climbing away from her. She throws the knife which lodges into the tree trunk, literally centimetres away from my head.

She lets out a grunt of frustration, and starts to climb up the tree. I climb higher, but I can't climb for long, as the branches become flimsy. _This is it,_ I think, _I'm dead. _Clove is only metres away from me now, and is reaching out for me. I hold my breath.

Suddenly she falls, tumbling down, hitting branches until she hits the floor, her leg bent at an awkward angle. I don't have a clue what happened, all I can see is that she has blood coming out of her mouth, and she looks very pale. I hear footsteps approaching the tree, and I stay as still as I can.

Peeta looks up at me with a worried look on his face.

"Are you okay?" he says urgently.

"Yeah." I say faintly, still shocked that I am not dead. "You?"

"I'm fine." He says, starting to climb the tree. "Here, there's a strong branch here." he says, settling further down the tree. I lower myself down.

"Four left." Peeta says.

"What?" I say, not that I didn't hear him, but out of shock.

"There's only four of us left." He says simply. "And we're the only team."

I stay in silence, utterly shocked. One more death, and it's the finale.

"We could win." I say in no more than a whisper. "We could win." Peeta grins, a glimmer of hope in his eye. All we have to do is wait.

**Not too sure about this chapter, but i hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading :)**


	16. Chapter 16 - The Finale

The day goes by slowly, the only disturbances in this nearly empty forest being the wildlife that occasionally rustles some leaves. It's about noon, when the sun is at its highest in the sky, when the cannon booms. It drags me suddenly from my stupor, and I look across at peeta, who has the same knowing yet wondrous expression as I do.

The obvious question to think would be; '_I wonder who's dead?'_ But my immediate thoughts are; _it's the final two. _It's Peeta and I against whoever is still alive. The fact that daunts me is that in twenty-four hours, I'll either be alive and in the capitol, or dead.

"I wonder who that was?" Peeta breaks the lasting silence.

"I don't know, but you know what it means, don't you?" I reply, raising my eyebrows questioningly.

"It's the finale." Peeta says, looking up at the sky. It is a pale blue, with beautiful looking white clouds dotted around like sheep in a field, and a small wind is blowing through the leaves of the trees, sending a shiver down my spine.

"Yup." I say, dread seeping through me as I think about what awaits us. I can't even believe that I am still alive. I think back to the reaping, and it feels like years ago; like one of those childhood memories which you somehow remember in vivid detail. I remember how shocked I was as the wave of terror came over me. Tripping up the steps outside the justice building feels like something that happened in a past lifetime, despite it being just about two weeks ago. I feel like a different person since then; I feel like a stronger person, mentally and physically, and looking back at my weak self before, I'm glad I have changed.

All of a sudden, the bright, midday sky, gets darker. I watch as it changes from bright clouds and blue, to a dark blue blanket, a strip of orange lighting the horizon where the sun is. Peeta stares at the pretty colour around the sun for a moment, before he is startled, like I am, by the sudden capitol anthem sounding through the arena, and the seal I the semi-dark sky.

The skinny face of the district five girl shows in the sky, and everything goes silent once more.

"Just us and Cato." I say, in a surprisingly strong voice, considering my insides have literally reduced down to a nervous nothingness.

"Yeah." Peeta speaks quietly, every tone in his voice sounding like how I feel. I follow his eyes to the sunset, and for a moment I just appreciate it. Everything about nature suddenly seems so magnificent now that I am faced with the thought that I could be dead very shortly.

As we sit in silence, my ears pick up a small sound. It sounds like water boiling, but there is no water around here to be boiling, and even if there was, it's too cold.

"Do you hear that?" I ask Peeta. He holds his breath and listens carefully, tilting his ear towards the floor.

"Yeah…" Peeta says in a mystified voice. "Sounds like something down there." He says, pointing down and squinting to try and see through the mass of leaves in the tree.

"Hold on a second." I say, lowering myself to a lower branch so that I can get a better view. I peer through the branches to see something completely un-expected: it is the ground beneath us that is making the bubbling noise. There is a line of grass which seems to be moving slightly, and the line is slowly but surely moving closer.

"Peeta, quickly!" I hiss up the tree, trying to be as quiet as possible. "Grab the bag, we need to go!" there is sudden movement above me, and two seconds later, Peeta arrives, carrying our little range bag which he decorated with mud to camouflage it.

"What is it?" He asks, sounding and looking alarmed. I point towards to line of grass, where the bubbling noise is coming from. "Oh, okay! Jump down!" I jump down to the ground, which feels strangely warm, and Peeta lands beside me. The moment our feet touch the ground, the line of fizzing ground speeds up, gaining on us at more of a pace.

Momentarily grabbing Peeta's arm, I start to run away from the ground, which seems to have started bubbling now, too. For some reason I know exactly what to do; whatever the bubbly ground is, it is chasing us to the cornucopia, where everyone watching will have a clearer view of the final battle, without the trees getting in the way of the cameras.

I am taken over by a sudden wave of adrenaline, and my legs seem to go faster. I run faster than I knew I could run, and faster than I have ever run before. I am in my own little world, and so distracted that I almost forget that there is someone with me.

There is a sudden small yelp from behind me, and I am pulled from my trace. I turn on my heels to see Peeta, sprawled out on the floor, as the bubbles approach him.

"Peeta!" I shout, a little too loudly. "Quickly! Run!" he scrambles to his feet, but not quick enough. His foot is submerged in the mud, which close up, smells horrid. Peeta lets out a scream of pain as he struggles to get free of the bog. I grab his hand, and together, we manage to help him out.

"It burns!" Peeta gasps, as we continue to run away from the bog, which seems to have sped up since Peeta got stuck in it. We run as fast as we can, and my lungs feel as though they are on fire. I genuinely think I am going to have to stop, but then I see the cornucopia, its metallic surface shimmering in the semi-dark sunlight.

Luckily, I see no sign of anyone being there, meaning that we have beat Cato here. If we can get on top of the cornucopia, then at least we will have a better view.

Panting, and with the bog rapidly catching up with us, we arrive at the Cornucopia. Peeta scrambles up first, and then helps me up, just in time as the bog closes in a tight island around us.

I am suddenly knocked to the floor by a huge blow to the head, and pain shoots through my brain. I gasp with shock as I turn to see, through blurred vision, two figures fighting. It dawns on me that the two people are Peeta and Cato, and both boys' weapons lay aside.

Even through my blurry vision, I see fists flying in all directions, as both of them try helplessly to kill the other. I try to move toward the knife that is lay forgotten on the golden floor, but my head throbs and my eyes threaten to black out.

But Peeta manages to beat me to the knife, using all of his strength to push Cato off for a moment. In the time Peeta has grabbed the knife and stood up, Cato has done the same. For no more than two seconds, the two boys stare into each other's bloody faces, before they charge at one another, weapons held high.

I watch helplessly as they charge, and listen to the yelps of pain from both of them. My face is splattered with something, and the thick metallic smell of blood fills the air. I hear two thuds as the two bodies hit the Cornucopia, and from the pain in my head and the shock, black spots cover my vision and everything goes black.


	17. Chapter 17 - Anger, Sadness, and Grief

**Hey guys, sorry it took me so long to update, but here we are! Final Chapter! I hope you enjoy it, and thank you to everyone who has read up until this point!**

*Katniss' POV*

Anger. Sadness. Grief. I don't even know how I feel. But for the moment I don't want to know how I feel. I don't even _want_ to feel. My eyes are no longer on the big screen outside the Justice Building, but are slammed shut as my legs give way and I fall to the floor.

_NO. _I think. _No, no, no, this isn't happening. It can't be._ I hear another cry nearby, and recognise it as my mother's. I feel strong arms try to lift me up, and the distinct smell of the forest that I match with Gale, but I refuse to stand, because I can't. Everything is in slow motion to me, and I can hear nothing but the two bangs of the cannon and Ceasar Flickerman's voice.

"And there we have it, Ladies and Gentlemen." He says, an odd mixture of excitement and sorrow in his voice. "That is the end of the 74th Annual Hunger Games, and we have our victor! Admittedly, he isn't in the greatest condition, but here we have him, the winner of this year's Huger Games, from district 2, Cato!"

I feel a hard lump form in the back of my throat, and suddenly I feel very sick. This is real, and there is nothing I can do about it. My sister is dead, and all I have done is watch in on a big screen. As if it is miles away, I hear the Capitol anthem playing as the screen shows every single tribute's death.

Suddenly I am on my feet and running. I don't know where I am going, but I have to get away. As I push through the dense crowd, I catch a glance of Prim on the screen. I stop in my tracks, taking in the sight of my sister, blood trickling down her face, and her young face pale. She was too young, too gentle.

Sharp pain shoots through my knees, and I realise that I am on the floor again. I try to slow down my breathing, which has been reduced to small gasps, by taking deep breaths, but it is no use. I hear the kind voice of a woman above me, asking if I am okay, but I ignore her, staggering to my feet and continuing to storm away. Of course I'm not okay, my sister just died.

I figure that if I keep saying it in my head, then when I hear other people say it I won't feel so bad. But I am wrong, because when I overhear an old lady discussing the games with her husband, I am forced to run faster.

"It's a shame about that Primrose girl." She had said. "She was only young, twelve I think." I didn't stay long enough to hear his reply. My shaking legs carried me to my house and before I knew it I was wearing my hunting jacket and heading towards the broken fence that led to the forest outside of district twelve.

I slither through the gap and start to run into the trees where I will be concealed from any peacekeepers. Or so I think. Just as I reach the trees there is a bellowing voice – a man's voice. I drop to the floor, petrified, but not entirely sure if he's seen me. Unfortunately he has. My father's words ring I my ears. '_Never get caught out here, Katniss. Being out of bounds is punishable by death.'_

A thousand thoughts fly through my mind, none of which being an escape. Instead, when two pairs of strong arms grab me. I do nothing. I am too weak to fight them, and too hopeless to want to fight. Let them take me. Let them kill me if they want. Anything is better than this heartache.

I half walk and am half dragged to the Justice Building, where my wrists are tied securely to a wooden post, the tight rope making my wrists sore. One peacekeeper stands by me, while the other storms inside, probably to ask permission to kill me.

I shut my eyes tight, concentrating on the pain spreading through my arms, because it takes my mind away from Prim. I don't even know how long I am there, but I presume it is a long time, because when I open my eyes, the Town Square is full of people again, and a Peacekeeper stands before them.

"People of District 12!" he shouts out into the crowd. "Here," he gestures to me, "you see something that we don't usually see in District 12. This is Katniss Everdeen," I hear a cry that sounds like my mother's, "and this afternoon, she was caught over the fence, trying to run away." If it wasn't for the extreme pain in my wrists and back, I would find this funny. I've managed to get away with it for five years. "We, as peacekeepers, have always stressed the rules in this district, and it seems that Katniss here, has forgotten that being out of bounds is punishable by death." _Get on with it then _I think to myself.

"So, here we have Katniss to teach you all a lesson." He walks steadily behind me, and my whole body tenses. "This is what happens to people who try to escape District 12." I hear him load the gun.

I desperately think of Prim, and my mother, and Gale, and my father, wanting any one of my loved ones to be my last thought.

There's a bang in the distance, and a million memories flash before my eyes. Good memories, bad memories, and then black.

The pain is gone.

_~~THE END~~_


End file.
